ã€ŠHadash Spania: The Blood of the Godsã€‹


 Chapter 1 - Entrance

    When revolts and revolutions are crushed

    How do their losers fare?

    Most are captured and executed

    With nothing to grasp but despair

    But this is the tale of one such exception

    Who made it out by only a hair

    When he was at risk of capture

    He simply vanished into thin air

    To where the blood of gods makes kings

    And that world is never fair

    After months of preparations, our plan finally came into fruition. For years, our government had oppressed our country, forcing our people into an unjust fate.

    We lucky few who weren¡¯t blinded by their sweet words had bided our time, gathering connections and resources to reclaim power from those blackguards. Then, in a stroke of fortune, a great famine racked the nation.

    The leader of our group, seeing the writing on the wall, decided that now was the right moment. He rallied the disgruntled masses and marched on the capital with their support.

    It should have worked.

    It had to work.

    However, unfortunately for us, they were prepared. Whether warned or through rumors heard didn¡¯t matter at that point; it was the same in the end. Their forces mowed us down like ants, and we, along with our supporters, were forced to flee. Some of our group escaped; most didn¡¯t.

    Then the most peculiar thing happened.

    ~ ~ ~

    Now here I was, boldly facing the opposition.

    With but a singular thought in my mind.

    ¡°I¡¯m screwed.¡±

    This was supposed to be the easiest part.

    After years of hiding, our efforts were meant to amount to something more substantial than this. But now, seeing my comrades being detained one after the another, I felt my prospects were becoming more grim by the second.

    I probably should have thought more about the fact that I was never really much of a fighter before charging in. In hindsight, our sheer numbers replaced all sense of reason within me with an irrational zeal. Although even if I wasn''t alone, I really doubt that they could do anything to stop the two hundred pounds of pure muscle storming towards me.

    I instinctively closed my eyes, raising my hands in a feeble attempt to shield myself from the blow.

    I braced myself for the hit.

    But nothing came.

    When I opened my eyes, I found myself in the middle of what appeared to be a rural, agricultural community. This was a surprising change of scenery compared to the imposing, grand figure of the nation¡¯s capital. The street were filled with people and sounds that were entirely divorced from the setting where I was previously.

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°How?¡±

    I thought to myself as I scanned the nearby surroundings.

    I appeared to be on a dirt path which bisected the settlement, along which various stalls selling were wools, meats and other various agricultural products.

    As I regained my bearings, I felt the weight of a few curious stares from the people around me, adding to my growing confusion.

    My tan complexion and modern clothing starkly contrasted with the more mediterranean complexion of the onlookers along with their tunics and robes with a more ancient design.

    Despite the clear difference in attire that made a distinction in time period between me and them, I thought at first that I had been sent to some kind of concentration camp for political subversion.

    Closest to me, I caught a glance at a man in his thirties staring at me with a bewildered expression on his face. I thought to ask the man in English ¡°Where am I?¡± in an attempt to glean some information about my current whereabouts.

    This question seemed to have puzzled them. I didn¡¯t know what about the question would puzzle them, because it seemed pretty basic to me. Even if he didn¡¯t understand the question at least he should have recognized that it was indeed English.

    However, in response, they answered my question with another question, one that confused me instead.

    It wasn¡¯t because of the content of their question, because I couldn¡¯t understand a word of what they said. But rather, the language that they used to ask it.

    I¡¯d like to say that I¡¯m decently versed in the languages of the world. If I can¡¯t recognize a language, I can at least take a guess at where it¡¯s from.

    However, the specific language which the man used to speak was beyond me.

    I couldn¡¯t even begin to guess what language it could be.

    To the untrained ear, it could be misconstrued for Arabic but it felt less guttural and used more consonants than it normally would. It also shared some similarities with Hebrew but the language the man used felt less fluid and more clipped compared to what I would expect.

    Despite its few similarities with more recognizable languages, I could confidently conclude that it didn¡¯t belong to any that I knew of.

    Feeling the pressure of the small crowd that had formed around me, I knew that having their attention for too long wasn¡¯t to my benefit. Knowing this, I walked quickly into a dark, quiet, nearby alleyway wherein I could regain my composure.

    Away from the town¡¯s prying eyes, I had time to ponder my current circumstances.

    Where am I?

    How did I even get here if I¡¯m sure that I didn¡¯t lose consciousness at any point?

    I could not answer these questions, and they instead just resulted in even more panic for myself.

    Realizing the futility of this line of thought, I put it off for later.

    Remember what they taught you, what do you need to do now?

    In an effort to keep my thoughts productive, I recalled what I needed to do in times like these.

    First, I need to find a source of food and drink. It wouldn¡¯t do me good to starve before I can figure out where I am.

    Second, I need to find temporary housing. I can¡¯t afford to get stabbed or mugged while I¡¯m here.

    Not that I have anything anyway to be mugged of at any rate.

    Once I do those things then I can focus on getting my bearings.

    How exactly will I do those things?

    I stroked my chin as I pondered for a moment until a thought popped in my head.

    Oh, it¡¯s pretty obvious but I know what to do now.

    I need to find a job.

    I realized that the most reasonable course of action was to find a job for myself. This would hopefully enable me to have both shelter and a source of sustenance.

    If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

    The only marketable trait I had with me was my knowledge. So I needed to leverage this in order to make do for myself. Though this was predicated on the biased assumption that I had more useful knowledge in a specific area compared to everyone else.

    I don¡¯t think basic chemistry or physics knowledge would help at all here.

    I don¡¯t know how to make medicine so that¡¯s out.

    Maybe math could help someone? Provided that they aren¡¯t very proficient with arithmetic or algebra, I could work for someone who needs it.

    It¡¯s better than nothing, I guess.

    As I stood up, I decided on a course of action. I would try to get a job wherein I could use my basic mathematical prowess to work for an employer. Based on my what I predicted, the plan would surely work as intended.

    If I could communicate it properly, that is.

    Standing in a nearby alley near the main street¡­

    Two figures cloaked in shadow were preoccupied with conversation.

    ¡°You sure you saw where he went Qaton?¡± asked the taller of the two men as he narrowed his eyes. His sturdy build contrasting with the thinner, more lean figure adjacent to him.

    ¡°Yes, I¡¯m sure.¡± Qaton replied as he racked his mind thinking of any details he may have overlooked.

    After some thought, he said ¡°He went running into the alley next to the wool merchant.¡±

    Despite the obvious power imbalance, they seemed comfortable with each others¡¯ presence and both spoke in a trusting albeit somewhat panicked manner indicative of their bond.

    Darat, puzzled, inquired further.

    ¡°Where¡¯d he even come from anyway?¡±

    Qaton responded

    ¡°Honestly, I don¡¯t know. I was talking to one of our associates, you know him right? Shur, I think his name was. Anyway I was talking to him and one moment the street was normal, the next I saw a strange looking boy with people gawking at him.¡±

    Darat frowned. ¡°Do you think he¡¯s one of those Zi that are looking for us?¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no way.¡± Qaton dismissed.¡°He looked way too different to be one of them.¡±

    Darat scratched his chin and said ¡°There¡¯s always a chance he¡¯s one of their spies from the North.¡±

    ¡°Maybe that¡¯s true, but we have no real way of knowing for sure where that Hamet(foreigner) came from.¡± Qaton reasoned.

    ¡±Then maybe we should ask him ourselves why he traveled all the way here.¡± Darat suggested with a dangerous grin.

    Qaton groaned, clearly seeing where this was headed. ¡°Oh, not this again.¡±

    The two men then set off seeking to give the Hamet a little ¡°chat¡±, a plan which the man Qaton begrudgingly agreed to.

    In the main street¡­.

    I don¡¯t think I was in my right mind when I thought ¡°Wow I¡¯m so smart I should use math¡±.

    I unfortunately realized early on that the plan I came up with definitely can¡¯t work when all I can do is gesture vaguely with my hands.

    I seemed to be in a rather arid village, as dry as it was quaint. It had at most two-thousand people living within its borders. And if I were to guess, one could walk from one side of the village to the other in at most forty minutes.

    I don¡¯t think this town is very welcoming to outsiders, seeing as most of the people I¡¯ve ¡°spoken¡± to just spoke in a hostile tone and brushed me off. Though, I can¡¯t help but notice that all of them used the word ¡°Hamet¡± at least once while they did so.

    I¡¯m guessing it¡¯s probably some derogatory word or something.

    I tried to pitch my ¡°math¡± idea to several vendors who looked like they could help. They all dismissed me like was said previously, but the latest one had the most memorable reaction.

    The man I tried to deal with is a burly man who was some sort of butcher based on the various meats and sausages located around his stall. His face flushed red, veins bulging as he yelled at me to leave.

    His anger could probably be attributed to the fact that most his customers were weirded out by my presence and went elsewhere.

    Most of the people I¡¯ve dealt with simply ignored me and just gestured to leave when I tried to advertise myself. But this man¡¯s short temper, in contrast to the rest, made it so that his reaction was to throw a fit when I tried to get my point across.

    As I tried to reason with the man, out of nowhere he clenched his fists and threw a punch at me.

    My immediate reaction was ¡°OUCH THAT HURTS¡±.

    His punch in the face sent me flying to the ground and gave me a throbbing feeling in my forehead. As I quickly put my hand to my head in pain, I could feel that there weren¡¯t any bruises or fractures at least.

    Based on his fit of violence and his hateful expression, his intent was quite clear.

    ¡°Leave now or else.¡±

    I walked away but while his head was turned towards another customer, I quickly slipped a few coins lying on the counter into my pocket and beelined out of there.

    You may judge me for it now, but in the heat of the moment I felt that he had it coming after the punched me out of nowhere like that.

    Unfortunately for me, it was not long after that when he noticed what happened and started yelling which caught the attention of a group of six people who I could only describe as knights walking by.

    The strangest thing about them was their armor, based on how it curved it looked about as flexible as leather armor. The thing that made it strange though was how its color was as metallic as plate armor. The men were dressed in the stuff from head to toe with only thin slits giving them the ability to see.

    Even before anything happened, they stared at me probably because of my strange attire. Then when the man started yelling in my direction after noticing the theft, they looked at us both and then charged at me with murderous intent. I¡¯m not sure if they were the equivalent of police officers in this town or just vigilante citizens but the only thing that I knew for certain is that I needed to run.

    Before they reached me, I swiftly located a stone I could throw to delay them. However despite the rock looking like it would at least faze them temporarily, the armor made a clunking sound metallic clunk as the stone shattered into tiny pieces without causing any damage.

    Realizing my attempt failed, I frantically dropped the coins in an attempt to stop them from chasing me. Unfortunately, this did little to convince them to stop going after me but instead it attracted random passersby who scrambled to pick up the fallen coins, inadvertently blocking the path for my pursuers

    That lucky distraction gave me a small head start, and I bolted into the narrow passageways between the buildings, hoping to lose them in the maze-like alleyways.

    Five minutes later¡­

    They are right behind me.

    Though I had a sizable lead on them when I first started running, my unathletic body was no match for their agility and speed.

    Now, I was on the precipice of falling into their grasp with only a few minutes more until my legs tired completely and I would collapse.

    ¡°At this point only a miracle could save me.¡± I thought.

    Just as I was thinking this, the strangest thing happened. A lot of strange things happened that day, but what happened next might take the cake.

    I ran into yet another alleyway with the only difference being that this time there was a rather slender man holding what looked to be a blowpipe leaning on a nearby wall.

    I ignored him and continued running but suddenly reached a dead end.

    As I came to terms with my current situation, I realized I had no hope of escaping now.

    Then, the men quickly caught up to me and I was subjected to a multitude of brutal punishments.

    The end.

    That is, at least, what I thought would happen.

    Instead of that, the slim man placed the pipe he was holding to his mouth, and with multiple quick breaths shot six darts one after another at the men. As they flew by I noticed a sort of silvery liquid, not unlike the men¡¯s armor, attached on the darts themselves.

    I looked back and I saw that the darts had somehow cut into their armor like butter, after which the men groaned in pain and then quickly went unconscious.

    I tried to gesture to the man as a symbol of thanks, but his eyes were focused on something directly behind me. When I looked where he was, I saw a giant hulk of a man, one who looked like he would be right at home in a wrestling ring. At the same time that I turned around and looked at the large man, I felt a sharp pain in my back coming from the man behind me.

    The stabbing pain quickly faded amidst a growing wave of drowsiness taking over. Then after a few seconds I eventually succumbed to a state of unconsciousness just like the men I had just seen.

    A few minutes before, on the main street¡­

    What is he doing?

    After he and his companion split up to find the Hamet , Qaton chanced upon the boy, tailing him from a distance and wondered what his plan might be.

    He watched as the boy tried to communicate with various stall-owners and watched as he desperately tried to use hand gestures while mumbling in an incomprehensible tongue. It all just baffled Qaton who wondered where he came from.

    If his plan was to piss off all the people he talked to, then he was succeeding. Otherwise it seemed like he was having difficulty in whatever he was trying to do.

    One thing was clear to him at least, the boy definitely wasn¡¯t a spy or at least wasn''t trained to be one. The job of a spy was to gather information while remaining as inconspicuous as possible, the boy failed on both fronts. If he was a spy, he was definitely the worst of them.

    After around thirty minutes had passed since he started watching, he curiously observed the boy as he interacted with a man selling various meats. After the man¡¯s customers began to leave the butcher started yelling about how competition had lessened his customers and how the Hamet was discouraging business.

    After the Hamet ignored his warning to leave and instead continued making hand signs, the butcher then threw a quick jab which caused the boy to spiral to the ground.

    The boy finally got the message and started leaving, but not without stealing a few coins on the counter in a show of spite. This angered the butcher who started yelling at the boy to come back and return the coins. Which, in turn, spurred nearby Zi foreigners, who were investigating local crimes, to chase after the Hamet. The same Zi forces that were looking for the smuggling ring that Darat and him were a part of.

    Being a local, he knew this town better than the Zi and the boy they were chasing. He knew that if the boy continued on the path that he was taking, he would eventually end up in a dead end. Fortunately, Qaton knew a shortcut. By climbing a nearby ladder and running across the rooftops of the buildings, he managed to get to the dead end before the boy and his pursuers did.

    He got seven darts from a pouch tied to his waist, dipped them in a silvery liquid and placed them in his pouch for the time being. He waited for a bit and sure enough the boy and the Zi that were chasing him appeared, he reached for the darts and one by one the Zi fell and went unconscious, the silvery liquid allowing the darts to glide through their armor and inject the tranquilizer that was built in to the darts.

    The Hamet tried to make a gesture of thanks to Qaton. Just then, his partner arrived. And as the boy turned to face him, Qaton took out his last dart and shot him.

    The boy¡¯s body slumped on the floor and his partner walked up to Qaton

    ¡°How did you get here so fast?¡± Darat asked with a note of disbelief.

    Qaton pressed a finger to his lips and whispered ¡°It¡¯s a secret¡±

    Darat, clearly frustrated, replied, ¡°Maybe you could share this secret sometime. I saw the Hamet being chased, and I had to run all the way here.¡±

    Qaton responded with a hint of sarcastic sympathy, ¡°Poor you.¡±

    ¡°Anyway, so you brought the pipe darts with the Alham and mercury?¡±

    Darat inquired

    ¡°Yes, I did. Just in case¡±.

    Qaton replied

    Darat looked at the unconscious mens¡¯ bodies with concern and asked:

    ¡°You sure they are fine? ¡°

    Qaton reassured him, ¡°I¡¯m sure, mercury alone can kill but when mixed with a bit of Alham, it¡¯s harmless.¡±

    Darat nodded in understanding, ¡°Alright, alright. I¡¯m guessing we need to bring them back to the compound.¡±

    ¡°No, just the boy.¡± Qaton specified ¡°We just need to know why he¡¯s here. Taking the Zi would garner too much suspicion.¡±

    ¡°Sure, let¡¯s go.¡± Darat agreed.

    ¡°Throughout it all I am left with one question:

    Who is this boy?¡± Qaton wondered to himself.

    Last edited: 16/09/2024

 Chapter 2 - Alham

    I was holding my head in one hand made a somewhat obvious realization

    ¡°I¡¯m in a world entirely different from my own, aren¡¯t I?¡±

    Despite the lack of overtly fantastical elements, my overfamiliarity with the ¡°Isekai¡± genre led me to this conclusion. In those stories, protagonists often receive overwhelming power or assistance in their new world. I wasn¡¯t so fortunate. Surprisingly, what sparked this realization was not the otherworldly armor that my pursuants wore, nor the unrecognizable language that I encountered, but rather the fact that I was in what appeared to be the basement of which I did not recognize and the fact that I cannot remember how I got here after almost being caught by one of the regime¡¯s forces.

    In my old world, dungeons referred to long labyrinthian structures wherein dark hallways surrounded by cobblestone walls hid many secrets and treasures. Where mages and warriors fought monsters for the treasures that lay within.

    The structure where I was located currently was thankfully, not one of these dungeons. With the assistance of a faint light in the corner I could tell that he now sat on the floor of a dry, relatively small space¡ªno bigger than the area of the average swimming pool back on Earth.

    The sandstone walls that enclosed the cellar were supported by tall wooden beams, appearing intermittently in its construction. The room had no other distinct details aside from a large wooden door appearing in the middle of the room. The door was plain in its appearance with the sole exception of a metal bulge on its side, most likely with a lock on the other side. Whoever took me here must have thought that the lock was enough. I can tell because I¡¯m not bound by any sort of chain or rope that a prisoner would normally have.

    Considering that they have a lock on the outside, I¡¯m guessing that whoever took me here must be accustomed to this sort of thing.

    Who even kidnapped me?

    As I strained my memory, bits and pieces from the previous day began to return.

    The thin man. He had shot darts at the men chasing me.

    There also was this burly man there as well¡­ before I felt a stinging pain in my back.

    The thin man shot me, didn¡¯t he.

    Damn it.

    Why would he?

    Was it to erase evidence?

    But wait¡­ why am I alive then?

    Why were they left alive too?

    As my mind was racing with questions, I realized the full gravity of the situation. As my mind tried to piece together the story of how I got here, an incongruity appeared in my memories.

    How did I get from my homeland to this strange place? Panic started as more questions surfaced.

    How will I get home?

    What will happen to me?

    Is this where I die?

    Surely, a heart attack would ensue if this anxious worrying kept on for another thirty minutes, but instead, I was interrupted by the distinct sound of the door creaking open.

    As the door swung on its hinge the figures of the two men became illuminated in the torchlight. One of them, a well-built man with rough, ivory skin, looked at me with an intense glare. His face riddled with darkened scars did nothing to conceal the menace in his narrowed dark eyes.

    In contrast, the other man had a narrow figure. He had a slightly lighter complexion with no terribly defining features save for his thin, light brown eyes. The same eyes which projected an inquisitive gaze onto me as he entered the room.

    Seeing my abductors made my heart stop in a panic, all rational thoughts proceeded to vacate my mind and what was left was pure fear. As I instinctively backed away from them, my face frozen in fear, the men exchanged confused looks as they noticed my fear.

    In an attempt to quickly calm me down they put their hands over their heads as the universal sign of peace. As I forced myself to breathe, the fear subsided. What replaced it was a wary curiosity.

    Now that I had my wits about me, I could now see that they both wore plain, unimpressive robes over simple tunics - with nothing to suggest high social status. While the large man¡¯s callused hands were empty, the more slim man held a sort of wax board in his right hand and a sort of metal stylus which was probably used to write on the board in question.

    ¡°Hamet ???? ???? ???? ???? ?????¡±

    The man holding the waxen board spoke to me in a curious tone.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know why you brought me here, but I can tell you that you have got the wrong person.¡± I stammered, my voice shaky.

    ¡°???? ???? ???? ???? Hamet ???? Yavan¡±? the thinner man asked in an inquiring tone

    ¡° ???? ???? ???? Yavan ???? ???? ???? ???? ????¡± replied the other man with a sigh.

    After talking for a minute they both seemed to agree on a course of action.

    The slim man looked at me, and gestured to how he placed both the board and the stylus on the floor.

    Then they both left, locking the door behind them. Which left me alone with the board and stylus.

    I¡¯m guessing they want me to write something on it?

    If that¡¯s what they want, that¡¯s what I¡¯ll give them.

    Earlier, outside the door¡­

    After taking the Hamet and placing him in our storeroom, we waited for him to wake up.

    While waiting my partner Darat asked

    ¡°If he¡¯s here to give us information and he doesn¡¯t understand us, what¡¯s the point?¡±

    ¡°Even if we can¡¯t talk to him directly, we can use these.¡±

    Bringing out a stylus and a wax board from a nearby chest

    ¡°How will we use that, Qaton?¡±

    ¡°If worst comes to worst and we can¡¯t understand him at all, we leave it with him and see what he writes on it¡± I replied.

    The realization dawned on Darat¡¯s face after I explained my idea.

    ¡°By the way, I think we should hurry up and find another steward. You won¡¯t believe the amount of work I had to do to find this after our last one went missing.¡± I complained.

    After preparing for our questioning, we wait a few moments until we hear shuffling from the room where the Hamet was placed in.

    The town of Murgi normally didn¡¯t get many visitors compared to its capital, which made his appearance even more surprising.

    Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

    Our smuggling operation was the only thing of note in this small hamlet, thus any unexpected visitors were very suspicious.

    Unsure of whether he could be a threat to our operation, we decided to find out his origins ourselves.

    It¡¯s not like anyone would miss him if he went missing anyway.

    Hearing the boy wake up, Darat tapped my shoulder to go help him deal with the boy.

    As he opened the door, he found the boy looking at us as if we were about to kill him.

    Oh, he¡¯s afraid we might kill him.

    At this rate he¡¯ll die of shock, I need to calm him down.

    To assuage his fear, Darat and I raised our arms as a sign of peace. This seemed to have calmed him down enough that we could try talking to him.

    I started off with a simple question.

    ¡°Hamet, where do you come from?¡±

    ¡°???? ???? ???? ???? ???? ???? ???? ???? ???? ???? ???? ???? ???? ????¡± he spoke, his voice slightly trembling.

    I don¡¯t understand him in the slightest.

    Well, that¡¯s to be expected I guess.

    ¡°Do you think the Hamet is Yavan?¡± I suggested.

    Darat sighed and said ¡°He¡¯s probably not Yavan though it sounds kind of similar.¡±

    The Yavan people of the north, known for their marble and olives, spoke a language that had words which sounded quite similar to the one the Hamet spoke. Despite this, Darat¡¯s familiarity with the tongue gave weight to his judgment, so I believed him.

    ¡°So, I guess it¡¯s time we use that board of yours?¡± Darat asked, his eyes shifting to the wooden board in my hands.

    ¡°Indeed it is.¡± I confirmed with a nod.

    Darat titled his head, pondering aloud¡°What do you think he¡¯ll do with the board?¡±

    With a mischievous smirk on my face, I said ¡°He¡¯ll probably try to communicate with us, maybe even surprise us. At the very least, it will be interesting. Why do you think I went along with your idea if not that?¡±

    Darat chuckled, shaking his head ¡°You always were a strange one¡±.

    I then placed the board and the stylus on the floor and gestured for the Hamet to pick it up.

    As the Hamet picked it up and fiddled around with it, I felt anticipation for what he would write on it.

    Entertain me, Hamet. Show me what¡¯s in that mind of yours.

    In the locked room¡­

    The board wasn¡¯t that large, it was around half a meter in length and twenty-five centimeters in its width. The stylus that came with it, was a sturdy iron rod which looked as large as a regular ballpen back home. As I looked at the wooden board in my hands, with wax covering most of the tablet, the first thing I thought to myself was

    What should I write?

    Well my priorities are:

    Firstly, to make sure that they know I¡¯m not a threat.

    And secondly, to show that I can be useful to them in the future.

    How do I do the first one?

    Make a symbol of peace?

    Maybe, but what symbol of peace would these people even recognize.

    I don¡¯t think they know the circular peace symbol nor the one with hand signs.

    Oh I got it.

    I proceeded to draw a man with his hands up, mimicking the pose that the men used to calm me down.

    That should do the no harm part, I still think it''s a bit lacking. I think I need to add another picture to really emphasize it.

    Maybe this will work.

    On the wax board, I used the stylus to draw a small picture of a man kneeling on one leg to show that my life was in their hands.

    They should understand it, given that for some reason in most cultures it is a common enough gesture.

    Now to show them what I have to offer.

    From what I have noticed, this world isn¡¯t very advanced compared to the Earth that I came from.

    While most people probably know some basic arithmetic needed for day to day life, the common man probably isn¡¯t too versed in calculating incomes and adding percentages. In order to have a worth in this world, I could help with their financial needs. Whatever they may be.

    How do I show this?

    I started with some dots, and made different symbols to represent 10s, 100s, and 1000s. Then, I introduced the arithmetic symbols like the plus,minus, division, multiplication, and an equals sign to show how I could do basic arithmetic, like addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.

    Finally, I drew one weighing scale and a table.

    The table showed that a square was equal to seven ovals, the circle was equal to four ovals, while placing a blank on the part that mentioned a triangle.

    The weighing scale was perfectly balanced with a square one one side, and a circle and a triangle on the other end.

    I showed how I used subtraction in order to find out that the triangle was equal to three ovals.

    Simple, I know. However, this at least shows that I have an understanding of mathematics that is fit for use.

    As I finished up my writing, I admired the tablet that was the result of my attempt to communicate with the people who had brought me here.

    Once I was confident that the wooden slab would get my message across, I knocked on the door to get the attention of the men. After a few moments, I heard two pairs of footsteps slowly increasing in volume until I suddenly heard the distinctive sound of the door being unlocked, the air in the room moving as the door swung open.

    A few moments ago, outside the door¡­

    ¡°I hear some banging from the Hamet¡¯s door. He¡¯s probably finished writing on that tablet you gave him.¡± Darat concluded.

    ¡°Yes, yes. I hear him. I wonder what we¡¯ll find.¡± I replied.

    As Darat and I walked down the steps leading to the cellar, I thought about the possibility that the Hamet would just refuse to communicate with us and give us nothing of value.

    I hope it doesn¡¯t come to that.

    As Darat unlocked the door, I saw the Hamet resting on the wall with the tablet placed in front of the door.

    He stared intently at me as I picked up the waxen board on the floor.

    Fascinating

    On the tablet, he sketched a man raising his palms as a sign of peace and a man showing fealty by kneeling with one knee and raising his hand.

    I¡¯m guessing that he means that he means no harm and he wants to serve. Or alternatively, something like ¡°my life is in your hands¡±.

    Clever, a succinct way of getting his point across.

    However, that wasn¡¯t what intrigued me the most. Below the pictograms he drew, there were also dots with symbols between them, there were symbols like a cross, a line, a line with two dots, a diagonal cross and two lines.

    What does it mean?

    Wait.

    If the dots are numbers, then this is¡­

    Oh.

    That¡¯s his angle, I see now.

    I realized that the dots indicated numbers and the dots at the right-most side is the result, and the symbol in the middle determines the utility.

    He¡¯s showing off the fact that he can use math, to show that he can work for us.

    The different symbols are the different utilities of arithmetic, with the sketch of a weighing scale being some sort of replacement problem.

    ¡°What¡¯s happening over there? What does it say?¡± Darat said as he eyed the tablet suspiciously.

    ¡°As far as I¡¯m aware, he is saying that he means no harm, and his life is in our hands. I think he is trying to tell us that his proficiency in mathematics can benefit us¡±

    After a moment of contemplation, Darat finally spoke up and said ¡°Well, we needed a steward anyway. Also, we still need to keep an eye on him, maybe if we teach him some of our language we can figure out why he¡¯s here.¡±

    I nodded and said ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll show him what he needs to know.¡±

    As I looked at him, he cast a resolute gaze at me. I didn¡¯t need to know his language to understand his determination.

    After Darat opened the door and walked up the stairs, I gestured to the boy to follow me. He seemed to understand and follow me up to the space outside.

    Outside the cellar, the Hamet scanned his surroundings as I led him into our warehouse, his eyes filled with cautious curiosity as they settled on the dozens of wooden barrels. Noticing his puzzled expression, I stepped forward and pried open one of the barrels, revealing the shimmering, golden liquid inside¡ªthe very lifeblood through which the world¡¯s kingdoms cemented their authority.

    I grab an iron ingot from a nearby shelf, and drop it in the vat. The metal hisses as it dissolves and the liquid in the barrel changes into from a radiant gold to a brilliant, gleaming silver.

    As the last trace of the ingot vanished into the bubbling cask, I gave voice to the name that had made empires.

    "This," I said, "is Alham... the blood of the gods."

 Chapter 3 - Commencement

    It¡¯s been a day since I agreed to work for the men who, to put it mildly, ¡°forcefully relocated¡± me. Although this was exactly as I had planned, I wondered if it was a bit too perfect.

    Despite my worries, the past few hours have been relatively peaceful ones.

    The man introduced himself as ¡°Qaton¡± by pointing to himself, and pointed to the other man walking in the distance and gave him the name of ¡°Darat¡±.

    From what I have gathered, their work required them to store large amounts of material, mainly a gold-like fluid called "Alham" filling most of their wooden barrels along with other various metals like mercury and iron.

    The whole warehouse that they used was two stories high with the center of the second floor being completely empty, allowing one to see the roof from the first floor. The building had an area of around four hundred square meters with a few dozen wall-mounted torches dotted around the perimeter. It probably had a few dozen of the alham filled barrels alongside miscellaneous items like furniture and wooden crates.

    In order to familiarize me with their numerals, Qaton began writing the numerals on papyrus, showing their equivalents of ones, tens, and hundreds in numeral form showing their value by equating them to dots.

    Although it had differences from the number system I¡¯m familiar with, at least from what I can tell, it¡¯s a base ten number system. That means that their writing system has nine digits for the one¡¯s place. I couldn''t imagine the headache it would cause if it was base fifty or base sixty.

    After I took a few minutes memorizing the numbers, Qaton showed me a wooden desk beside a chair with around two hundred rolled up papyrus scrolls lying around in its drawer. Each scroll contained a foreign numbers besides words I couldn¡¯t understand. The desk also had a container of thin sticks that appeared to be used for writing adjacent to a bottle of ink that they would use to write with.

    He unfurled two scrolls out of the many on the desk, both of them had numbers but to their right were words written in their unknown language.

    He showed me the meanings of the words by adding as many bronze coins as the number said in one scroll and subtracting by the amount shown in the other.

    I quickly understood that one word likely meant ''income'' and the other ''expenses'' based on the demonstration that Qaton had shown me.

    As I nodded as a signal that I understood, Qaton seemed to have picked up on that fact and rifled through the contents of the desk to look for something.

    After around two minutes had passed, he finally brought a few pieces of parchment twice as large as the rest.

    To make an example, he gets one of the long, thin sticks in a jar and places the edge in a bottle of ink.

    He then copied the upper-right most word on one of the small parchments, added whether it was expense or income then added the amount.

    I guessed that the word on the upper right corner was the title and it gave information about the nature of the exchange.

    Qaton handed me another scroll and gestured for me to copy what he wrote.

    After I did exactly that, he organized the scrolls and placed them neatly on the desk, implying that he wanted every single scroll on the desk compiled on the writing sheet.

    As I thought about how long the task would take, my mind wandered to the thought of taking some time to rest and indulge in a meal. It made me ask myself when the last time I had eaten was and then, and as soon as that thought appeared, I was struck with the sudden realization of how hungry I had been since I woke up.

    As if on cue, my stomach growled with a low rumble, immediately attracting Qaton¡¯s attention. He looked at me with a pitying look and opened a door which led to a room adjacent to the warehouse. When he reappeared he came out with a sort of flat bread that, in my hunger, looked as appetizing as the fine pastry. I quickly gobbled it all up as my hunger had finally been sated.

    Later on, I discovered that it was a pantry containing different breads, fish and other foodstuffs. Some of which I indulged myself in when I felt peckish while working.

    After Qaton finally left to attend something else, I placed my tablet on the desk and I finally started on the final manuscript, finishing it a few hours later after the sun had set. The task itself wasn¡¯t too strenuous, though I can¡¯t deny that it was very tedious. While spending hours meticulously poring over my math to make sure of its veracity isn¡¯t the most fun thing to be doing, it was definitely much better than starving.

    Besides, I learned a bit more about who exactly I¡¯m working for. Looking over the different documents I was handed, I recognized around twenty distinct styles of handwriting which implied the existence of at least twenty or more men who contributed to Qaton¡¯s organization. Furthermore, I noticed a pattern in some of the documents. They described how an initial expense resulted in more income than what was originally spent which suggested that the group was making a profit by acting as a middleman. They would take goods from one place and then trade them elsewhere for a higher return.

    From what I''ve seen, it seems likely that the barrels of alham are the primary goods they trade.

    As I finished with my task, I set myself to explore more of my surroundings.

    I¡¯m sure no one would mind.

    As I looked around I noticed four doors.

    One door led back to the basement from which I came from.

    The other one led to the pantry.

    If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.

    I was left with two doors which I could open.

    The doors were on walls that stood perpendicularly to each other, one door looked quite old equipped with a lock to keep it secure. The other door was a simple wooden door with its defining feature being how new it looked, with almost no scratches or marks in the door.

    I first attempted to open the worn out looking door by deactivating its lock, but the door would not budge.

    Hearing faint voices, I listened to the room behind it by placing my ear to the door. Behind the door, I could make out distant footsteps and a discussion in hushed tones.

    There¡¯s probably another lock on the other side, why do they go through so much effort?

    As I walked to the other wooden door, I hoped that it wouldn¡¯t be locked like the other one. As I tried to open it, it moved a bit but got stuck on something halfway through. I gave it a forceful shove and the door swung open revealing a small room with a straw mattress bed, a chest and a fireplace in the corner.

    It looked like it hadn¡¯t been used in a while, it has probably been a few weeks to a month since the last occupant left.

    Since it had probably been unused for some time, I decided to stay here for now and tidy it up. In the corner opposite to the fireplace was a wooden broom with dozens of small twigs tied up in a bundle at the end.

    I used the broom to sweep any dust that accumulated in the room out of it as well as removing any cobwebs that I happened to see.

    Once that was done, I thought to myself as I lay on the mattress,

    It really has been a busy day, hasn¡¯t it?

    As I felt my exhaustion catch up with me all at once, I surrendered to it and drifted into peaceful slumber.

    Behind the locked door¡­

    As the dead of night arrived, Darat had notified me that we were summoned to discuss our involvement with the Hamet. They had apparently heard of the situation and were calling all of the group¡¯s members to reach a verdict on the matter.

    As all the members gathered to discuss the matter of the Hamet we had in the warehouse, almost everyone at the meeting glared at Darat and I with cold looks all the while maintaining absolute silence. One of the most influential members of our organization was Ishata. She was a stern woman, almost at the point of being called middle-aged, who broke the silence by taking it upon herself to question the judgment of both my partner and I.

    She started by saying ¡°Qaton, Darat. This Hamet could be dangerous to us, we don¡¯t know both where he came from and why he¡¯s here. We can¡¯t even ask him any of it because as you¡¯ve told us, he doesn¡¯t speak our tongue ¡±

    ¡°So can you please explain to us why on earth you allowed a random boy we don¡¯t know anything about to access our financial records?¡± she asked with a smile that seemed laced with insincerity.

    Her sharp words had both unnerved the crowd and had stroked their distrust towards us for taking action without their approval.

    In order to allow our action to be legitimized, we needed the support of the majority of the smuggling ring.

    In an attempt to calm them down, Darat tried to placate them by saying ¡°Calm down, of course we didn¡¯t take him in for no reason.¡±

    ¡°Then why did you do it?¡± one of them interjected.

    Darat responded by saying ¡°We needed a new steward, and he fit the bill so we agreed to let him work for us¡±

    Though Darat was confident in his answer, I found it a bit lacking its ability to convince the others.

    They clearly were thinking along the same lines as I was because they seemed more riled up than before.

    The same man, now with an incredulous look on his face, exclaimed ¡°Is that it?¡±

    ¡°Have we resorted to plucking children off of the street for labor?¡± Another man asked.

    As the room quickly lost their trust in our credibility, the room quickly filled with doubtful murmurs that signaled to me that they were losing their faith in us.

    I had to act now in order to save face, unless we wanted to be passed off as fools and waste our previous efforts.

    ¡°Enough of this murmuring.¡± I bellowed as silence enveloped the room once more.

    ¡°We obviously had our reasons. First of all, we need to keep an eye on the Hamet. We don¡¯t know where he came from or why he is here, all the more reason to keep an eye on him. If we teach him our language, he could tell us something that we could use.¡±

    This line of reasoning had swayed some, but not all were convinced just yet.

    ¡°Secondly, the boy is simply fit for this role. Ever since our steward disappeared, this whole operation has been hanging by a thread. Our reports just kept piling and piling with no one to organize them. The boy has shown that he has the mathematical prowess necessary to do the job while being willing to take on the work that we give him.¡±

    Judging by the look on their faces, I reckoned we had around a third of the group convinced while another third was wavering in their opinion.

    With our side gaining a more favorable result in this battle of opinion , Darat seemed to have regained his confidence. He looked like he had something in mind that he wanted to say. So when he looked to me for approval, I nodded my head, beckoning him to speak.

    ¡°We cannot afford to be divided at this time. With the Zi trying to crack down on our operations, we need all the help we can get. We can¡¯t allow the Zi to have absolute control over the trade of alham. In order to keep our way of life intact, we have to use every edge that we have over our enemy to maintain the flow of alham that we need to survive as an organization.¡±

    As Darat¡¯s eyes jerked back and forth, assessing the mood of the crowd, he decided that this was the perfect time to strike.

    ¡°It¡¯s time for a vote¡± he announced.

    ¡°Those who are with me, raise their right hand¡± he said with a triumphant look in his eyes.

    With this, a hefty majority of the group raised their right hands with loud cheers. The silent minority which included the woman who spoke against us, looked simply exasperated by the result. While some looked defeated, others including Ishata looked more infuriated than anything.

    As the meeting came to an end and everyone went their separate ways, Ishata went up to us alone in order offering a caution.

    ¡°Go ahead, give the boy work and teach him our language but don¡¯t blame me when you have regrets later on.¡± she warned.

    As she walked away, we felt both a feeling of relief for our victory as well as a lingering foreboding for what could happen in the future.

    In the warehouse, the next morning¡­

    When I woke up the next morning, I walked to the desk with the manuscript and saw Qaton himself poring through it.

    As he analyzed the document, I noticed that judging by his facial expressions, he seemed a bit more uplifted than usual. Like a burden had been taken off of his shoulders and he could relax more now that he was free of it.

    Once he was finished with it, he nodded at me with a smile. Which was his way of telling me without words that I had done a good job writing the composition.

    As if to reward me, he took out my tablet and heated the wax on the board with a candle, then flattened it with the stylus.

    He started writing distinct characters. I had seen some of these, while working on the document but in comparison these characters were all spaced out.

    These probably aren¡¯t words then, but wait¡ª could this be?

    As he finished writing symbols which in total amounted to twenty two characters, my suspicions were all but confirmed.

    He began to assign sounds to the characters which removed any doubts that I may have had.

    ¡°This is their alphabet.¡± I concluded.

    I¡¯m one step closer to figuring out where I am.

 Chapter 4 - Halel

    Halel

    A week before the Hamet appeared¡­.

    It¡¯s been around three weeks since I was taken prisoner by the Zi.

    They¡¯ve been sniffing around the town of Murgi for a while now, and it seems that they figured out that I was one of the ones involved in alham¡¯s illegal trade. Specifically, I was the one taking care of their accounting, acting as a steward of sorts.

    Once they had their suspicions that I was a part of that organization, two men dressed in alham coated armor started trailing me from my home.

    At first, I thought it was just mere coincidence.

    But after they followed my every move¡ªtrailing me through the same narrow passageways¡ª I realized then that they were on to me.

    As soon I became aware of this fact, I understood the urgency of contacting Darat, my closest ally.

    In order to lose them, I started to speed up my pace.

    Unfortunately for me, this caught their attention. Their brisk pace turned into a steady sprint as they sped up to try to catch me.

    As I made sure that I was fast enough to avoid them, I chose a smaller alleyway to the right and ran towards it in order to lose them in the town¡¯s vast alleyways. But just as I entered it, a man dressed the same as my pursuant threw a punch towards my head, rendering me unconscious immediately.

    When I awoke, I found myself in a dark, dingy room. There was no proper flooring, with the floor being composed of soil, gravel and various small wooden sticks. In contrast, the walls were porous and rough, composed of multiple stones held together using dried sand with small shafts of light where there were small holes in the wall.

    The men had heard me shuffling about as I woke up, so they dragged me out of the room and placed me onto a wooden stool where I was surrounded by six of the armored Zi. They were wearing their armor which covered them from head to toe, with only a single slit allowing them to see. Through it, I saw their eyes ¡ª cold and lifeless, without any trace of emotion.

    They asked me questions like ¡°Who are you?¡±, ¡°Do you belong to a smuggling ring?¡± and ¡°Do you know who the members of the smuggling ring are?¡±

    Despite the pressure to give an answer, I lied and claimed that I knew nothing.

    They obviously weren¡¯t pleased with this answer, because one of them brought out what looked like a leather whip coated with alham metal.

    When alham comes into contact with other metals, the metal dissolves into the Alham, creating a metallic variant of it. Once heated and coated onto cloth or leather, the material retains its flexibility. However, upon impact, it instantly gains the rigidity and strength of the original metal.

    The man obviously used the same method that their armor used to increase the effect of their whip. Despite its intimidating nature, I persisted in maintaining my silence. But when I did, the man started lashing at my back with the alham coated whips. Each strike felt like small, sharp knives digging into my skin as I felt nothing but agonizing pain, but still I would not betray my allies.

    After what felt like an eternity, the whipping finally stopped as they probably realized that I wouldn¡¯t tell them a word. Perhaps thinking that they might have a use for me in the future, they decided just to lock me in the room. Giving me just enough food to survive, but not enough to stop feeling the hunger pangs that persisted with no end.

    A few moments after they locked me in the room, I discovered that the walls weren¡¯t constructed very well, being held together by gravity and friction alone. This was probably because the locals of Murgi did not trust these foreigners at all, giving them only the most run down of houses to stay in.

    From then on, day after day, I silently worked on unraveling the wall without being seen or heard. I did this with the assistance of a small twig that I found on the floor, using it to slowly scrape away the sand holding the stones together.

    This process was both tedious and time-consuming, made even longer by the need to ensure that it looked about the same, and that I made no noise while doing so. Each stroke had to be slow and precise as even the slightest mistake could draw unwanted attention but my injuries

    Those two hindrances made it so that the whole undertaking took about three weeks to complete with many close calls along the way. Adding to the problem, the fact that my wounds did not seem to heal and instead worsened did not help in any way. Finally, when it was an hour before the break of dawn, I heard no movement outside the door. Which meant that all men were asleep and wouldn¡¯t be checking the room for another few hours.

    This is my time to strike.

    I placed my hands on the wall and pushed, the stones then came falling down. As I went outside, I paced along the path leading me to the main road. As I recognized my surroundings, I hurried to my house in order to destroy any documents pertaining to the group which may still be there.

    Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.

    As I found myself in front of my home which sat alone in the outskirts of the town, I saw that the door was left ajar. When I entered, I found the house meticulously searched, with every piece of furniture and chest checked.

    So this is what they were doing all that time.

    As I rushed towards the spot where I hid the documents that had information on the smuggling ring, it miraculously was left unchecked. To reveal the documents, I pulled out the floorboards and brought out a chest hidden within.

    Once I had the chest, I opened it and inside was a large amount of the smuggling ring¡¯s financial history.

    We cannot afford for the Zi to find this.

    Thinking this, I rushed as fast as I could to the nearby river despite the pain caused by the lacerations on my back. I was determined to destroy the vital information on the documents no matter the cost. Sad to say, my luck was disastrous because just as I was reaching the bridge that was constructed over the river, I heard familiar voices behind me. These weren¡¯t voices of allies, but one of the Zi who had discovered my location. He was chasing after me, an iron saber unsheathed from his hip.

    As I was just about to reach the middle of the bridge ready to throw the documents into the river, I felt a sharp tug on my tunic. In an instant, his blade pierced my chest, driving the breath from my lungs.

    It was over for me.

    But in one last act of defiance, I flung my weight towards the edge of the bridge, plunging both myself and the documents into the river.

    As my death came ever closer, I thought of my life and of the man who gave me purpose.

    ¡°Avenge me, Darat¡± I thought as darkness overtook my fading consciousness.

    A week later, in the compound¡­

    ¡°Why¡¯d you call me here, Piyan?¡± I asked.

    ¡°I think he¡¯s someone we know, Darat. I just had to confirm that I was correct.¡± he replied.

    He unwrapped the body, it was soaking wet with a sword wound on its chest but the corpse somehow felt familiar to him.

    Then, a stroke of realization hit him.

    No.

    I couldn¡¯t be.

    ¡°Do you know who this is?¡± he asked ¡°We had our guesses that it could be Halel but¡ª¡±

    Visibly shaken, I interrupted him, ¡°Where did you find this body?¡± I asked

    ¡°We found it washed up on the riverbed, it must have been around a week since he died. So is it Halel?¡±

    ¡°Yes, it is.¡± I confirmed as my face twisted into a downcast expression.

    Piyan tried to comfort me, ¡°I¡¯m very sorry for your loss, I know how much he meant to you.¡±

    I recalled how I recruited him.

    His father was a prominent merchant that supplied us with our group with the timber needed to run our operation in exchange for our support in his endeavors.

    This relationship was beneficial to both sides, that is until the unthinkable happened. A fire broke out in his home, taking the life of his wife and daughter. The flame also spread to the nearby warehouse wherein he kept his goods, everything inside was reduced to ashes.

    The merchant only survived because he and Halel were somewhere else at the time. He came back to find his business destroyed and his family shattered. This ruined his mental state, making him increasingly reckless and self-destructive. One day he set off to make business in a foreign land, promising to return.

    Unfortunately, he never did.

    When I heard about this, I felt sorry for the boy and sought him out.

    I found him on the street, starving and homeless.

    Feeling pity, I offered him a job as our steward knowing that he had the skills to be one.

    This arrangement lasted a few years, with him doing his work diligently all-throughout.

    To be honest, my mind eventually had come to think of him as a son because of the difference in age as well as the extent of our bond. His mind, however, was still focused on finding his father and reconnecting him.

    When I found him missing and his house ransacked, I thought he had finally left to find his father. Knowing his deep desire to get back to his father, I respected his wishes and made no fuss.

    That was a mistake.

    Now, I know that it was Zi who went and made a mess of his house. I should have known that he wouldn¡¯t have left without a word, especially after our years together. The result of my foolishness was the corpse that lay before me now.

    and now he lay in front of me as a corpse.

    We need to get rid of the Zi.

    They need to pay.

    In the storeroom¡­

    The three hours that Qaton spent teaching me the alphabet and basic words did not go to waste, I could probably now understand about ten percent of basic conversations.

    The lesson only came to an end because of Darat. More specifically, he seemed like he was asking Qaton to come with him. The most surprising part was how Qaton beckoned me to follow him, marking the first time I¡¯ve been anywhere outside the warehouse since I was brought here. So I brought my slate and stylus with me and followed him.

    As I followed the men into another large hall which was filled with a few men, they stared at me curiously while talking to each other. I avoided their gaze and followed Qaton into another smaller room, within it was a corpse of a man in his twenties which made my heart skip a beat when I saw it.

    The whole room smelled absolutely vile, probably emanating from the body that lay on a table in the center of the room. The damp corpse¡¯s most significant feature was a large hole that was seen piercing his chest.

    Using the terms that Qaton had taught me earlier, I asked Qaton how this had happened.

    He explained, in very limited terms, that it was the Zi who had done this.

    As I asked who the Zi were, he took my slate and drew men with familar-looking armor.

    The same men who were trying to capture me the other day.

    Oh.

    So they were the Zi.

    As I pondered upon the gravity of their crime, I made up my mind and finally decided what I had to do.

    While I was to blame for the first altercation, it seems that the Zi weren''t exactly on the straight and narrow either.

    Darat and Qaton can never rest easy as long as they roam this town.

    To return the favor, I need help get rid of them.

    For my sake, and for Qaton''s.

 Chapter 5 - Matches

    As Qaton left to attend other duties, I was left alone with the corpse. I looked into its dark, unmoving eyes and felt a chill rush down my spine. Until now, I have had the privilege of being relatively sheltered, having been assigned to more managerial roles on Earth. But in this world, I had no such luxury.

    ¡°Is this the price of failure?¡± I thought as dark clouds began to cloud my mind.

    Fortunately, my brooding was cut short by the shrill whine of the door opening. A relatively pale man with brown, curly hair and dark eyes beckoned me to exit through the door.

    Feeling that it wasn¡¯t the best idea to stay in that room, I went out the door leading outside. Based on the fact that Qaton and Darat hadn¡¯t told me anything about where to go, I assumed that I had implicit permission to roam the compound. With this in mind, I spent the rest of the day exploring their base of operations.

    The warehouse I was residing in, as it turns out, contained around half the area of the entire facility. The remaining space was used as living spaces for some of the members and there also was a meeting room with around twenty seats arranged in a circle which seemed recently used.

    After seeing enough for one day, I retreated back to the storeroom.

    While walking back, my memory of the corpse made me wonder,

    What would happen if I remain as powerless as I am?

    Would I end up like that man?

    Will I meet my end by the Zi like him?

    No.

    That will not happen to me.

    I can¡¯t allow that.

    That¡¯s when I realized that there is only one thing that could help me.

    Power.

    Without it, any attempt to make an impact on this world would be meaningless.

    Political power is out of the question for now, I can¡¯t communicate well enough to have it.

    I don¡¯t have the build necessary to brute strength my way through problems.

    But, economic power?

    That might be my only option.

    The next morning¡­

    During the next day, Qaton came over to the warehouse to teach me more about his language. He seemed a bit overly invested in my progress ever since I was brought here. Not just that, ever since he took me here, I¡¯ve been treated with nothing but kindness and patience.

    I refuse to believe that pure intentions are the only reason as to why he¡¯s been helping me.

    ¡°Why would he go out of his way for me, a stranger?¡± I asked myself.

    I didn¡¯t know the answer to this question.

    It was unsettling.

    But while I suspected he had an ulterior motive for doing so, I knew that if I wanted to survive in this world, I needed his tutelage. Even if he had malicious intentions, his actions so far have been nothing but benevolent. I¡¯m forced to give him the benefit of the doubt, at any rate.

    As they say, it¡¯s no good to ¡°bite the hand that feeds you¡±.

    But before he continued educating me, he asked me a question which seemed surprising but inevitable.

    He pointed at himself and said ¡°Qaton¡±, his name.

    Then he pointed at me with an unreadable expression.

    ¡°He¡¯s asking for my name.¡± I thought.

    Come to think of it, I didn¡¯t give him one.

    ¡°Hamet.¡± I replied.

    Any other name would sound too foreign and bizarre to the people of this world.

    Hamet is a reasonable enough name. It''s what people have already been calling me, so there¡¯s not much change that needs to be done.

    ¡°Hamet?¡± he questioned.

    ¡°Hamet.¡± I confirmed with a definitive tone.

    No matter what it meant, I would make it my own.

    He shrugged and repeated ¡°Hamet, with a slight nod. As if sealing the name that I had chosen.

    And so began the new lesson, with the name I had chosen ¡°Hamet¡±

    The whole lesson itself was instructive.

    He somehow managed to teach me basic greetings, basic colors and so on¡­

    I essentially now had the conversational skills of a one-year old.

    The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

    Though it wasn¡¯t much, even I was surprised by how fast I remembered everything he taught me. You really do learn faster when your life depends on it.

    Even Qaton seemed mildly surprised at my speed. He was somewhat taken aback whenever I was able to pick up on words relatively quickly.

    After we finished, he took out a new pile of scrolls that I needed to work on, probably more financial records that I needed to compile.

    When he left, I got to doing the work. But while I did so, I thought

    ¡°What can I offer this world that they don¡¯t already have?¡±.

    After familiarizing myself with the village, I concluded that either this world¡¯s technology is very outdated or this town is exceptionally rural. Thinking about my experiences so far, everything I¡¯ve seen points to a world with fourteenth century level technology. The architecture, the lighting, the cuisine all point to this exact same deduction.

    So, I thought if I brought advanced technology from my earth, it could be extremely successful here. The only problem is that it has to be within my knowledge, and commercially viable in this world.

    I recalled the time with my group back on Earth for inspiration. I always use the term ¡°group¡± to refer to us, but this doesn¡¯t fully describe our full nature. For the lack of a better term, they were revolutionaries.

    Insurrectionists, rebels, terrorists. The government had many names for us but I knew that we were in the right. Our aim was to replace the current regime, repeal their laws by implementing new ones that would help the people.

    Unfortunately, this called for violence.

    The higher-ups of the revolutionaries subscribed to the view that the end justifies the means. This meant that most members including myself were taught how to work with substances like sulfur and gunpowder in order to help us succeed against the regime.

    I wondered how I could use that knowledge to benefit me in the present.

    Gunpowder?

    I considered trying to synthesize gunpowder in this world but I quickly gave up on that idea.

    It¡¯s not very viable, I need so much gunpowder just for one explosion.

    What would I even use it for?

    I don¡¯t think firearms would even leave a scratch on the armor of the Zi.

    Maybe something less violent would be better. Who knows what trouble I would get into if I were discovered to be the creator of such a deadly thing.

    As I was deep in thought, my eyes wandered around the room. They eventually landed on the papyrus sheets that I used to write the group¡¯s reports which gave me an idea.

    Paper? A printing press?

    Unfortunately after wracking my brain for a method on how to produce plant paper, I recalled nothing about its process so I discarded that idea. I also eliminated the idea of creating a printing press after realizing that most uneducated people couldn''t read, meaning little to no demand, and I wasn¡¯t about to start some literacy campaign to change that.

    My eyes wandered yet again, waiting for a stroke of ingenuity that had yet to come. I looked at the torches that adorned the room with light, they flickered with orange flames that gave me a spark of inspiration.

    Maybe an easier way to light up these torches and create fire would be commercially successful.

    Matches?

    Now that¡¯s an idea.

    From what I remember, the materials for making matches aren''t too distinct from gunpowder which I already knew plenty about. But matches had way more utility to the average person that gunpowder ever would.

    As a plan began forming in my mind, I realized that I needed something very important first.

    Capital.

    To start a business, one needs capital to start producing goods and paying expenses like rent, wages among other things.

    I think it¡¯s a bit too obvious who I want to borrow the capital from.

    Qaton.

    So far, I¡¯ve relied on him for everything, my knowledge, my safety¡ªeverything.

    I don¡¯t think that¡¯s a good thing.

    Now where is his partner?

    An hour later, outside the warehouse¡­

    I finally found Qaton¡¯s partner, Darat. The big man himself.

    He was a bit hard to find, but saying his name and asking for him led me right to him.

    Darat was talking with the same pale man from earlier, he was there when I was shown the corpse of one of their members.

    As he finished his conversation and began to leave, I called his name, ¡°Darat¡±.

    Confused, he looked around until he locked his eyes on me.

    Using the terms that Qaton had taught me, I managed to blurt out ¡°need¡­. money.¡±

    Perplexed as to why I would need it, his words and expression probably meant something like ¡°Why?¡±.

    Struggling to remember even basic vocabulary, I responded ¡°make¡­more¡­ give¡­ you¡­¡±

    He looked dubious of my claim, which is to be expected from someone with zero track record. But I was certain that I would find success.

    To finally convince him, I needed to use my advantage.

    ¡°Trust¡­Qaton¡±

    For some reason, Qaton seemed to have a lot of faith in me. He trusted that I didn¡¯t mean any harm, trusted that I was not a threat and trusted that I could help him. I was asking Darat to trust in Qaton¡¯s judgment and by extension, trust my competence.

    Darat furrowed his brow and began to think for a few seconds. He really seemed to put value in Qaton¡¯s opinion because most of the skepticism that he had was replaced with a look of careful consideration.

    He seemed ready to hear my proposal.

    After muddling my way through an explanation, I eventually relayed to him that I knew a way to easily start fires without a torch or any other external tool.

    He seemed skeptical of the idea at first, but when he remembered what Qaton thought he decided to believe me.

    I managed to ask him where to find the materials which I told him I needed, he mentioned the name ¡°Shur¡± at one point in his reply.

    This ¡°Shur¡± figure seemed like someone who could help me find the resources necessary to start producing as quickly as possible.

    I asked him, ¡°Where¡­ Shur?¡±

    He sighed and beckoned for me to follow him, and as I did I followed him as he exited a door that led out of the compound.

    This was the first time I had left the compound since Qaton took me here. As I looked around at the buildings and people, my belief that this world was currently in the middle ages in terms of technology was reaffirmed.

    Darat seemed to know it like the back of his hand, as he knew exactly where to go to meet with this Shur person. As I struggled to keep up with him, I thought of a potential problem with me going outside.

    ¡°Zi?¡± I asked Darat, wondering whether they would try to catch me again if they ever saw me.

    But he shook his head, alleviating my fear. If Darat said so, then I was probably safe from them for now. Though there must be some reason why they weren¡¯t here, otherwise they would just be freely roaming the streets like last time.

    After passing many shops and homes, we finally stepped foot inside one of them. The large cube of sandstone where we were currently seemed to be some sort of general store, because instead of selling one specific thing, they were selling some small foodstuffs as well as other different goods like candles, fabrics and threads.

    A tall man with ebony skin spoke to Darat from behind the counter, he seemed confused as to why Darat and I were here but Darat quickly gave him an explanation that left him satisfied.

    When he finished talking with Darat, he turned his eyes toward me. He introduced himself as ¡°Shur¡± as he pointed towards himself. Darat probably must have told him that I¡¯m not fluent in their language. Copying his gesture, I pointed to myself in turn and said ¡°Hamet¡±.

    Content with the fact that we had been acquainted, Darat started going for the door. But not before he placed a golden coin into my hand, and gestured for me to keep it safe. When he left, my attention was once again caught by the tall man who was staring at me.

    The more I looked at his eyes, the more I realized that his attention wasn¡¯t on me but rather my odd looking clothes.

    Trying to draw his attention, I said to him ¡°Shur¡­ help¡­ me¡± as fluently as I could.

    His gaze lifted from my clothes and transferred to my face, showing me I had his undivided attention.

    As I gestured the number two with my hand, I managed to convey the fact that I needed four components at the moment.

    Firstly, I needed a yellow, odorous substance.

    Secondly, I needed excrement, preferably from a horse.

    Thirdly, I needed charcoal.

    Finally, I needed small wooden sticks about the length of my palm.

    I also needed a wheelbarrow and a shovel.

    It took quite a while to relay these instructions to him while having a poor grasp of the language. While the materials that I needed surprised him, he was confident that he could acquire them nevertheless.

    He held out his hand, expecting some sort of payment in return for his services. I gave him the gold coin that Darat entrusted me with, and it seemed to be enough for him.

    After our transaction was finished, I still needed one thing to be able to produce matches.

    Land.

    More specifically, I need somewhere where I could decompose the manure and synthesize the chemicals needed for the matches.

    Thankfully I remembered the way back to the warehouse, otherwise I would be lost if I tried to go back there. Once I finally arrived back there, I asked Darat if there was a place I could use that wasn¡¯t currently occupied.

    He thought for a moment, but then thought of an idea.

    Darat led me to a house with a small yard not far from the compound, on the outskirts of the town. It seemed newly abandoned and ransacked, but it was the perfect place to start manufacturing matches.

    I managed to ask Darat if he could tell Shur to bring the materials here.

    He agreed and left me to my own devices as I went inside the house. Inside I saw a mess of furniture cluttered around the floor as if someone was desperately searching for something that they had lost. I spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning the house, finding a few desks and chairs that I could use as a workstation.

    ¡°It¡¯s almost there.¡± I thought.

    Just a bit more effort and it will be well worth it in the end.

 Chapter 6 - Bingo

    In the common room of the compound...

    ¡°What is this about Shur telling me that you are investing in a business? One that Hamet is trying to start.¡± I asked.

    Darat shrugged, ¡°Honestly Qaton? Even I¡¯m not exactly sure. I feel like I kind of got carried away when the boy tried to explain his idea about some kind of fire starter¡± .

    ¡°You should know. You¡¯re the one who gave him that coin.¡±

    Darat defended his actions by saying, ¡°True, true. Though I thought it was something that you would think was a good idea¡±.

    ¡°I mean, you¡¯re probably not wrong.¡±

    ¡°Anyway, why did Hamet even ask you?¡± I wondered out loud.

    ¡°I thought you didn¡¯t really care about interacting with Hamet after you learned that you couldn¡¯t question him.¡±

    ¡°Is that his name now? Hamet? Anyway, don¡¯t misunderstand, Hamet sought me out himself. But I don¡¯t know why he did that exactly.¡± Darat said with a confused look on his face.

    I smiled and said ¡°Anyway, that¡¯s quite a large amount you gave him.¡±

    ¡°It won¡¯t do me any good to think about anymore. I don¡¯t think I¡¯m ever getting that coin back, unfortunately for me.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t jump to conclusions, have some faith in the boy. He¡¯s quick enough to surprise even me.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ll have to wait and see, I guess.¡± Darat said.

    Hamet

    A few days later¡­

    It¡¯s finally here.

    After waiting a few days, Shur came around the compound just after I had woken up and I came to understand that my order was complete and was waiting in the plot that Darat had mentioned.

    He gave me three silver coins after informing me. I kept it in my pocket, guessing that the change would be useful later on.

    I waited until around afternoon to go back to the house.

    As I approached the average sized house and its yard, I had yet to see any evidence of the delivery that Shur told me about.

    ¡°Had I been scammed?¡± I wondered.

    Despite my worries, my fears were quickly allayed when I saw newly placed wooden crates inside the building itself. Unfortunately, this relief was contrasted by the foul smell that I detected as soon as I entered through the main door. The house smelled like excrement and rotting eggs, obviously the materials themselves were to blame.

    But this did not deter me. I left the front door open in an attempt to ventilate the room and did my best to stay in control of my thoughts.

    As I drew closer to the crates themselves, I noticed there were four of them alongside an iron shovel and a wooden wheelbarrow.

    I felt relieved that my instructions were relayed properly but the putrid smell tainted any positive emotion I may have had with pure disgust.

    Reluctantly, I opened the crates to find that they were composed of a crate of small charcoal bits, a crate of dung, a crate of yellow powdered sulfur and a crate of small twigs that each were about the length of my index finger.

    With the smell being too much to handle, I quickly put the lids back on the sulfur and dung crates and used the nearby wheelbarrow to move the dung outside alongside the shovel I had acquired.

    Fortunately, the putrid odor finally weakened after I had placed them a few meters outside the door.

    Outside the house, the yard had tall grass with a small stream that flowed through it. The soil beside it was damp and had a healthy brown hue.

    It was the perfect place to start the first process of matchmaking.

    Using the wheelbarrow, I brought both the excrement crate and the shovel right next to the stream.

    Then, I dug a hole large enough to contain all the dung stored in the crate and placed the dirt that came from it beside the cavity.

    Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

    Slowly, I used the shovel to transfer over the fecal matter to the hole. After what seemed like an eternity it was finally done. I used the dirt that was adjacent to the pit to cover it up, spreading the remaining amount of soil around the grass evenly.

    This process was to create potassium nitrate, a substance that remained after waste was processed by microorganisms.

    Despite this being the most effective method of obtaining the stuff, the downside of this method was that it was a bit slow. It would take one month if I was lucky, during which I would have to constantly make sure the soil was damp by adding water to promote the growth of bacteria which would decompose the horse dung.

    After I made sure that the house was secure and wasn¡¯t about to get stolen anytime soon, I returned back to the compound. Qaton had heard me return and checked up on me. But as soon as he took a whiff of me, he went away and returned with a bucket of water. Understanding his meaning, I used it after he left the warehouse.

    The next few weeks weren¡¯t particularly noteworthy, Qaton usually gave me a list of reports that I needed to tally and when I accomplished them he taught me a bit of vocabulary. With his help, I slowly became more comfortable with the language.

    He also generously gave me a set of clothes including a robe with a tunic, not unlike what he was wearing.

    After I placed my old set of clothes in my chest, I returned the favor by accomplishing my work especially quickly that day.

    This cycle repeated itself for around two weeks, I quickly became accustomed to this schedule and felt comfortable in it.

    Qaton¡¯s lessons did not make me as fluent as a native, and I couldn''t even hold a conversation. But I could glean the meaning behind Qaton¡¯s words and could express my intent well enough for him to understand, though he was forced to speak very slowly and clearly whenever he was talking to me.

    There wasn¡¯t anything notable to mention until I was startled awake one night. I had awoken by a thump a few hours after midnight, coming from the warehouse outside the room I was sleeping in. Being a bit curious, I slowly opened the door and I saw around ten unfamiliar men led by Qaton and Darat transporting Alham barrels from the warehouse to the door that led to the main entrance.

    I inched my way closer to take a better look at the men, but Qaton noticed me and escorted me back to my room.

    He ordered me to stay inside until morning and not to go outside until then.

    Despite feeling the temptation to ignore his words and investigate on my own, I ultimately decided to listen to him and go back to sleep.

    When I asked him the next day, Qaton refused to talk about it. He only bothered to explain anything about what happened until a week later after my persistent pestering.

    He sat me down at my usual desk and grabbed the slate which we used to communicate. He erased the contents and drew a sketch of a map.

    The drawing seemed to be one of a large sea that was surrounded with land that had small islands in it.

    On the bottom of the map, he drew a circle and said that it was the town of Murgi, the one that we were in, which according to the map was very close to the sea.

    I guessed the town was a few kilometers away from the ocean based on how much seafood was being sold in the village¡¯s stalls.

    Qaton then pointed to the middle of the map, and made another circle in the body of water. He pointed towards the circle and said ¡°Alham¡±.

    I asked him what that meant and he elaborated by drawing an arrow that connected the two dots with an arrow. The arrow started in the Alham dot and ended in Murgi.

    I get it.

    So, the alham comes from the sea?

    Qaton then drew new arrows, he sketched around five that went from Murgi to different locations that went west, east and south.

    So, Qaton¡¯s group acts as a distribution hub?

    I imagined that they used their connections to supply alham to potential buyers that had the funds. What Qaton was trying to tell me wasn¡¯t very hard to understand, but I still had one question that was lingering in the back of my mind.

    ¡°Who are the Zi?¡± I asked Qaton.

    He paused for a moment, trying to figure out how he was going to explain it to me.

    After he decided on a course of action, he drew a point on an island near the Alham dot and labeled it ¡°Kingdom of Zi¡± which was probably the home of the Zi. The island wherein it was the more eastern of two adjacent islands which were close together. Qaton drew large connections which implied that the Alham was also being directed to the Kingdom of Zi then it was distributed to the shores of nearby lands in every direction.

    He explained that the Kingdom of Zi was a mercantilist state that dominated the Alham trade and has survived long because of their economic power.

    So both our group, and this kingdom are involved in the trade of alham.

    I think Qaton is trying to tell me that the Zi Kingdom has a monopoly over alham.

    Then how do we even get our supply?

    I pondered for a moment but then I saw how the nighttime operations, secrecy and the Zi¡¯s monopoly fit together.

    So they¡¯re smugglers?

    It¡¯s the only thing that made sense. If the Zi have a monopoly and we somehow have a supply, Qaton probably has contacts that illegally sail Alham here without the knowledge of the Zi.

    The need for secrecy and the fact that they only move the product at night make this conclusion more apparent.

    That''s interesting and all, but how did the Zi that came here factor into this?

    I asked him about the Zi that were here, he pointed to the kingdom and then pointed towards the Murgi and said that ¡°they were looking¡±.

    Wait.

    So the Zi found out about the smugglers?

    They¡¯re looking for Qaton¡¯s group then.

    This explains a lot.

    But this isn¡¯t a good situation to be in.

    I realized I had to execute my matchmaking plan with absolute caution. I couldn¡¯t allow myself to attract their attention and potentially discover the alham operation.

    But this also motivated me, this new knowledge gave additional importance to my goal of trying to rid Murgi of the Zi. I needed to gather enough funds that I could try to execute my plan and make sure that they don¡¯t come back here.

    Speaking of the plan, the next two weeks came and went without a hitch. I went to the house everyday to ensure that the land where the dung was buried was at the optimal amount of soil moisture. If it was too dry or too wet it would take more time for the nitrification process to create potassium nitrate, that was time that I didn¡¯t really have at the moment.

    As I realized that it had been almost a month since I started the process, I made preparations to dig up the result of my labors. I went to the house as usual, away from the busy town center, and went to the patch of soil as usual. But instead of just checking it and adjusting its humidity, I opened the house and got the shovel that I used to bury the excrement in the first place.

    If I was right, then the dung would have decomposed and left behind small white crystals that were indicative of ammonium nitrate being converted to nitrate. I knew that the process on average could take as long as a year or as short as a month if I was lucky. But I hoped for the best and started digging.

    At first, I didn¡¯t really see anything except regular soil. I noticed that some of it was a bit lighter in color than usual but I ignored it and kept digging. Despite my efforts, I didn¡¯t see any pure white powder despite digging for it for around thirty minutes.

    My face scrunched up in frustration as I thought of what went wrong.

    The process was right, I was sure of that. But if that was the case, where was the nitrate?

    I thought for a bit but then it hit me.

    Obviously, it wouldn¡¯t be totally pure. It would have to be mixed in something at some point.

    As I tried to recall anything special about the soil, I remembered that some of it was less dark than regular soil. I scrambled around looking for the light soil until I came across some of it on the ground. I used my shovel to pick some up so I could examine it in more detail.

    As I put it closer to my eye, I saw the soil was laced with small white specks which couldn¡¯t be anything but the nitrate that I was after.

    Bingo

 Chapter 7 - Fire

    It¡¯s finally over.

    After a month of dedication I finally had what I needed to start creating matches.

    Potassium nitrate.

    It took a bit of work, which involved making sure that the dung that I buried got the right amount of moisture for it to decompose. The fruit of my labors were the small gray-ish specks of matter that littered the soil where the excrement once was.

    ¡°What do I do again?¡± I thought.

    ¡°Oh, right. Purification¡±

    In my time on earth I was taught that to make matches I needed three things: charcoal, sulfur and powder¡ª all of which was to be used in a powder form. They would then combine with water to make a sort of paste, which would be applied to the sticks I had to create makeshift matches.

    One step at a time, though.

    I can¡¯t be too impatient.

    Every step of this process needed to be accomplished with the utmost precision in order to make adequate matches that can be commercially viable. If I got the mixtures wrong and added too much potassium nitrate and too little charcoal and sulfur, it would result in creating what is essentially gunpowder on a stick.

    Who am I kidding? It''s already gunpowder on a stick.

    Regular matches sold in stores had more complex chemicals like red phosphorus and potassium chlorate, things that I had no idea how to create. Sulfur, charcoal and potassium nitrate was the best I could get with my limited technology, knowledge and funds.

    So this match was essentially a stick with modified gunpowder, with the same ingredients and everything.

    If I wasn¡¯t careful and added the proportions wrong I could end up with actual gunpowder in its pure form.

    Needless to say, no good things would happen if I created and used that near my body.

    I¡¯ll worry about that later. For now, I need to focus on the task on hand.

    How do I collect the nitrate?

    After ruminating for a while, I remembered that I had a perfectly empty, albeit dirty, container waiting to be used.

    I went back to the house and picked up the old excrement crate that was lying outside. It was a bit disgusting at first, which was most likely due to the fact that I didn¡¯t clean it for over a month. But after a good rinsing and drying with water from the stream, it was finally clean enough for me to use it once more.

    After meticulously collecting every single piece of soil that was lighter than the rest, I did my best to separate the pieces from the brown earth with my hands. After picking at them for around ten minutes, I was left with some gray-ish particles which I was fairly sure was potassium nitrate.

    Placing all of the substance in the empty crate yielded around a tenth of what I had put in as dung adding up to around a kilogram of weight. The rest of it had probably been turned into soil and dirt, or energy for microorganisms.

    After carrying the crate, it became apparent to me just how little potassium nitrate I had. I brought it over as carefully as possible, as I could not afford to waste any of it in a stroke of clumsiness.

    I put the crate of potassium nitrate on the table so I could finally start purifying but there was something that prevented me from starting the process.

    If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

    I forgot about the things I need for the purification.

    I decided that I couldn¡¯t find the things I needed at the house and had to go back to the compound warehouse with my wheelbarrow to find them. As I walked back I made a mental checklist of what I needed¡ª firewood, a pot for boiling, somewhere I could put the different substances, a mixing utensil, a source of fire for the firewood and a wooden tray where I can place things that needed to be dried in addition to a small cloth that I needed for filtration.

    I returned to the compound at around four hours after noon, and went straight to the pantry that was next to the warehouse. I rifled around the different crates in the pantry until I found a clay pot, a wooden tray, a wooden mixing rod and wooden bowls that could be used to place things in and a fabric which was probably used to clean the utensils.

    In my mind I hoped Qaton wouldn¡¯t be too annoyed if I ¡°borrowed¡± these items for a bit.

    The firewood was pretty easy to find seeing as there was a decent amount lying in random piles around the space. The torches were just as simple to procure because they were a commodity that they needed to have a lot of in order to light their spacious compound, so I lit one and left the compound with it.

    After making sure I didn¡¯t need anything else, I brought all the materials necessary using my wheelbarrow back to the house to start manufacturing the matches.

    Finally, after an hour I had what I needed to start purifying the potassium nitrate.

    I mixed three parts of water from the stream for every one part of the potassium nitrate bits that I had collected together into a clay pot, mixing with the stirring rod that I ¡°borrowed¡±. Over the past month, I had discovered a small circle surrounded by pebbles which seemingly contained a small fire in the past based on the small amounts of ash that I found within it.

    This addition to the yard was a boon which would allow me to heat chemicals as I wished. I used this feature of the house to my advantage by adding new firewood and lighting them with the torch that I had brought over.

    The flame from the torch engulfed the firewood as the timber began to smoke and smolder. Using nearby twigs, I fashioned a setup wherein I could place the clay pot over the fire to allow it to heat up.

    After placing the pot on top of the fire, I waited for it to heat up until it was just about to boil and then took it out. I quickly extinguished the fire and used the cloth that I had to prevent myself from being burned by the scalding hot clay pot. I brought it back inside the house and used the fabric to filter out the dirt from the solution and poured it into one of the remaining wooden bowls that I ¡°borrowed¡±.

    Knowing this would take a good while for the potassium nitrate to settle, I headed back to the compound with the intent to return the next morning.

    The next morning¡­

    The first thing I did when I came back the next day was look at the progress of the nitrate.

    Small white crystals had formed at the bottom of the bowl after it had cooled overnight.

    It should be very pure by now. Even if there is a possibility that it isn¡¯t, I have to trust that it is.

    I then threw out the remaining water as carefully as I could, the water at that point was waste that wasn¡¯t important to the process. Though I had to make sure that any of the nitrate in the bowl stayed in the bowl and didn¡¯t fall on the ground. I then crushed the crystals with my hands which resulted in it turning into a milky white powder.

    I was left with around six hundred grams of a crystalline material that looked similar to table salt. However unlike table salt, this substance had the capacity to burn a house down if handled combined with the proper elements.

    The potassium nitrate that I was left with seemed pure enough to be used. But to be safe, I placed half of it in a different bowl just in case I needed to purify it again.

    Now it¡¯s time to prepare the other ingredients.

    I took the crate of charcoal that I asked for and inspected, inside the crate were a bunch of jagged matte black stones which looked like someone carved them by hand. While the charcoal pieces were in a pebble-like state, I needed them to be more powdery so I could use them properly.

    To remedy this, I took out the stirring rod and began poking and prodding at the charcoal until it eventually turned into a chunky powder. To make it even finer, I found a hard rock from outside and began pounding the sediment until it was finer than sand.

    Now that the charcoal was ready, I next had to prepare the sulfur. I opened the crate and was barraged with the smell of rotten eggs. I recoiled back in disgust, barely holding myself together but I steeled myself enough to see that the sulfur was already a fine dust.

    Once it was all ready, I got the empty nitrate crate and started putting the elements into it¡ª three parts sulfur, two parts charcoal and one part potassium nitrate. In the crate was enough material to create around one hundred matches, not enough for commercial use but it was to be a proof of concept only.

    Historically, gunpowder was composed of a mixture which included seventy-five percent potassium nitrate. But this novel mixture was intended to be used for matches, which meant that I had to significantly reduce the portion of the potassium nitrate in order to control the burn.

    I used the same stirring stick to mix the ingredients together, which required a high degree of wariness lest the whole thing ignite and go up in a ball of flames. I then added enough water for it to become a paste with a texture not unlike thick paint or paste.

    I was now left with a box that contained a gunpowder paste which would hopefully make any stick I had into matches. Selecting five of the most promising twigs from the crate of sticks that I had, I dipped their ends into the paste box and then took them out and placed them on the wooden tray that I had brought from the compound.

    While waiting a few hours for the matches to dry, I looked around outside for the stone with the best properties to light the match with. It had to be rough enough that if I dragged the match onto it, the match would hypothetically catch on fire.

    After searching for a while, I found three matches that fit this criteria, each of them being around the size of my palm.

    I came back to find the matches dried and picked one up. It was a brown twig with black powder at the end which indicated that it was ready to ignite.

    So, I picked up one of the rocks and stuck the match against it.

    There was nothing.

    I used the match once more.

    There was still nothing.

    Did the purification fail? Was the sulfur faulty? Did I have the wrong charcoal?

    In a final act of desperation, I scraped the stick as hard as I could against the stone.

    Finally, a small ember rose from the top of the match alongside a wisp of smoke.

    Fire. I finally have it.

    There was fire.

 Chapter 8 - Innovation

    In my hand was a lit match.

    My month of careful effort had resulted in a small wooden stick. One with a darkish powder at the end which gave me the ability to start fires with ease.

    A small flame appeared when I struck the match with a coarse stone.

    I noticed that compared to regular matches that I had used in my old world, this one was exceedingly small.

    However when I tried to put it closer to my face to better inspect the ember, it extinguished leaving behind quite a lot of smoke in its wake.

    Despite the amount of work that I had put into it, its flame had stopped as quickly as it had started, releasing a cloud of noxious fumes while doing so.

    My brief excitement had morphed into a disappointed sigh.

    As I scrutinized the burned out match, I noticed that most of its fuel was left unused.

    This signified that the chemicals that were supposed to make it light up were too weak, the formula needed some adjustments.

    It needs to be improved.

    The match in question was composed of three main ingredients: charcoal, sulfur and potassium nitrate.

    The charcoal in the match paste was added for fuel, the sulfur for ignition and the potassium nitrate for oxidization.

    To diagnose the issue, I started mentally listing the problems that I had with my matchstick.

    First, it was hard to start.

    To light up the makeshift match that I had crafted, I needed to use a coarse stone to create enough friction for the match to ignite.

    I doubted that it was the rock¡¯s fault, so it must have been the fault of the potassium nitrate failing to add enough oxygen to the flame.

    Second, it created way too much smoke.

    This is probably also the result of the potassium nitrate as well; an incomplete flame would lead to incomplete combustion, resulting in more smoke.

    Finally, it was too weak.

    Once again, it was the same culprit, the potassium nitrate. Like what was said earlier, it failed to add enough oxygen to the combustion process which led to a weak match.

    Based on my observations and my analysis of the course of events, the reason why the match was faulty was obviously the potassium nitrate. The charcoal and sulfur was too much compared to the nitrate and as a result the flame wasn¡¯t able to burn as it should have.

    To remedy this I could either lessen the amount of sulfur and charcoal in the mixture or add more potassium nitrate.

    After taking a glance at the mixture that I made previously, I decided it would be a waste of resources to throw the match paste out and make a new one. Therefore, I decided to just add one more part of potassium nitrate to the mix and hoped it would work.

    I used the stirring rod once again to incorporate the new addition of more potassium nitrate into the paste. At first it looked like it didn¡¯t mix together well, but after stirring the paste more, it eventually looked like it was ready.

    After I redid the process by adding the paste to the sticks, drying them¡ª the whole nine yards, I was left with five new matchsticks which would hopefully ignite better and produce less smoke.

    The moment had finally come.

    I grabbed the new and improved matchstick with my right hand and the stone to light it with my left.

    In one swift motion I dragged the match head across the rock¡¯s rough surface and lit the match.

    Its flame was robust and vibrant, in contrast to the previous match I tested with.

    I waited for a few moments and it was still shining as bright as ever, lasting longer than the old prototype ever did.

    You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

    This is actually viable.

    After waiting a while and being satisfied with its longevity, I put it out with my breath and disposed of the used match.

    I couldn¡¯t hold back a brief smile on my face after it had finally worked.

    It was obviously worse than most-store bought matches back on earth.

    But in this world, I thought its convenience and speed was unrivaled.

    I bundled the other matches and stones into a small pouch with the cloth I had previously used to filter the potassium nitrate.

    It¡¯s time to return home.

    When I returned back to the compound, the sun had already started setting. I located Qaton in the common room and using simple terms, asked him to come with Darat to the warehouse.

    I wanted to show them a little magic trick that I had cooked up.

    Qaton

    Ten minutes later in the storeroom¡­

    Hamet is a very strange boy.

    Me, Darat and everyone who knew of the boy thought the same as I did.

    Hamet¡¯s height, clothing and appearance would indicate to most people that he was a normal, albeit foreign, teenager.

    Though, most people would be wrong.

    From what I¡¯ve observed, every action of his is dictated by a mindset that he alone possesses.

    How he acquired this demeanor is something that can only be guessed at and something he seems unable and unwilling to share for now.

    But what I do know is that no one¡ª not even myself ¡ªcan know what is going on inside that head of his.

    This makes him both a boon of potentially infinite potential and a menace of potentially infinite dangers.

    He has seemingly unknown latent knowledge, showcased by his uncommon grasp of mathematics. In addition he seems to have a resourcefulness and adaptability that allows him to quickly understand anything we teach him and retain it going forward.

    However I can also tell that he doesn¡¯t trust me.

    Every action that I do to help him is always met with a grateful smile, but underneath the facade I can see a deep-rooted suspicion that he has towards my actions.

    He probably suspects some ulterior motive behind my benevolent actions.

    Well, he isn¡¯t wrong but it¡¯s strange that a teenager as young as him acts in such a way.

    ¡°What kind of upbringing would make him like that?¡± I wondered.

    I had a few hints.

    When we first saw him, he was wearing unfamiliar clothing that seemed very well-made in comparison to what the average commoner would wear. This would imply having a somewhat high status wherever he was from.

    When you add that to him having facial features that were reminiscent of people from the lands further north than the Yavan, one reasonable guess that could be made is that he is related to some kind of foreign nobility or burgher household.

    But why would he be here?

    This question couldn¡¯t be answered for now.

    Putting it aside, I finished thinking and found Darat and told him to come to the warehouse.

    The boy in question, Hamet, managed to communicate to me that he wanted to show something to us.

    It was probably related to the firestarter project that he had spent the last few days working on.

    Hamet had come up with an idea about some sort of new way to start fires. Darat, imagining that I trusted the boy completely, humored him by giving Hamet a substantial amount of funds that came directly from our treasury.

    Even if I know that Hamet is somewhat intelligent, I wouldn¡¯t trust him enough to give him that much. Nevertheless it happened and now we were being beckoned to the storeroom where he frequented to probably be shown his prototype.

    Honestly, I can¡¯t lie and say I wasn¡¯t interested but I can¡¯t expect a teenager to be able to create something that other people haven¡¯t already thought of.

    I still hoped it was at least interesting enough to amuse me for a bit.

    I walked with Darat to the warehouse and we saw four sticks around the width of a palm on the desk with a few coarse rocks placed next to them.

    I noticed the sticks had a sort of mixture on their ends ¡ª an unknown black powder which smelled faintly of rotten eggs.

    Hamet noticed us and had us sit on two stools which he probably found lying around somewhere in storage.

    He took one of the wooden rods and gave it the name of ¡°Match¡±.

    I found the name a bit strange since it means nothing to me, but it probably has some significance to him.

    He held the wood stick with his right hand and with his left he took out one of the rough rocks.

    Using his wrists, he briefly dragged the stick on the rock until it the tip of the wooden rod magically burst into flame.

    How did he do that?

    I wondered if it was a trick, but I saw no way the fire could have come from anywhere but his so-called ¡°match¡±.

    After gesturing for Hamet to give me one, I noticed the mixture at the end of it had a faint sulfur smell alongside having the color of charcoal.

    So it¡¯s just charcoal and sulfur?

    No, it couldn¡¯t be. If they had an effect like this, it would have been discovered and popularized a long time ago.

    I inspected the match more closely and discovered small white specks in the mixture.

    So, this is the difference?

    I guessed this combined with sulfur and charcoal is probably what gives his match its power.

    So the stick and charcoal acts as fuel, which gives the sulfur and white specks the ability to make fire?

    To be honest, I had no clue how it worked.

    Even though the mechanics of how it worked was beyond me, what mattered was that it worked.

    ¡°If this goes public, the arson cases will go way up.¡± Darat quipped with a smile.

    Darat, being who he was, was probably thinking more about its uses than how it worked.

    If it was sold as a product, it could be revolutionary.

    The most common ways to start fires is the flint and steel. The drawback of this method is that it needs a decent supply of wood to start a fire in addition to it needing to be dry enough to use.

    This match seemed to me that it acted like both a flint and steel and the kindling that it needed.

    It¡¯s relatively simple to use.

    It¡¯s quick.

    Who knew he would come up with something like this?

    Hamet truly was full of mysteries.

    Though the real question is, ¡°How many mysteries does he have?¡±.

    It seems that my decision to take him into our employ was a good idea after all, and Darat¡¯s decision to fund him seemed like it was a stroke of genius.

    He truly is an interesting boy.

    Maybe I should try to help him start a business with these matches. I can only imagine the amount of profit there is to be gained from selling something like this.

    I picked up one of the coarse rocks that were lying on the table and used it to light my own match in the same way that he did.

    A glowing fire appeared on the tip of my match.

    A fire which represented a masterstroke in innovation, and all the opportunity that came with it.

 Chapter 9 - Debut

    Qaton

    ¡°I agree it¡¯s a good idea to help him, that much I can tell.¡± I said.

    ¡°Of course,¡± Darat replied.

    ¡°Just be careful out there. Ever since rumors of Halel¡¯s murder got out, the Zi have been lying low for a few weeks now. This town sees them as suspicious outsiders after all. But don¡¯t lower your guard, don¡¯t get complacent.¡±

    ¡°Keep him out of danger.¡± I reminded him.

    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t think of doing anything else,¡± said Darat with a confident grin.

    ¡°Be careful.¡± I reminded him sternly.

    As he walked away he confidently uttered ¡°I will."

    Hamet

    A day after the presentation¡­

    After showing Darat and Qaton the fruits of my labor, they seemed more eager to support my venture.

    I managed to blurt out the words ¡°Help¡­start¡­business.¡± to Darat and he somehow got my meaning.

    Once again, he brought me to Shur¡¯s store and talked with him about something.

    Shur led the two of us to a somewhat abandoned storefront, relatively close to the house that I recreated the matches in.

    It was a somewhat small space, with an open counter in the front and empty crates in the back.

    While I was inspecting the area, out of the corner of my eye, I saw Darat slip Shur two gold coins as payment for this space and was surprised by the amount that Darat gave him.

    While this space wasn¡¯t exactly the most prime real estate, I figured two gold coins was way too little to buy it outright as people usually worked years to buy something like this.

    After Darat had given me the one golden coin, I learned that one gold coin was worth around a month of the average laborer¡¯s wages.

    While it wasn¡¯t exactly a fortune, it was still a hefty amount.

    Though two coins was probably just enough to rent this place for a few months.

    After Shur left to go elsewhere, Darat beckoned me to pay attention to coins that he was placing on the counter.

    He placed twenty silver coins on the counter and took away half. With the remaining half, he took three and said ¡°Darat and Qaton¡± before he pushed the rest to my side.

    What?

    I guessed it meant something related to how the profits would be split up.

    If all the coins were revenue, then the half that was taken away should be operational costs?

    Oh, so the remaining half should be profits then.

    By that logic, he is suggesting a seventy/thirty split.

    Meaning that I get seventy percent of the profits while he and Qaton would get thirty.

    That¡¯s fair.

    That¡¯s actually more than fair.

    While it seemed like an incredibly good deal for me, there must have been some reason for it.

    Either he just was really generous, was really naive when it came to business or was just really wowed by the presentation.

    He offered his and I shook it, not wanting the deal to worsen.

    I would just have to hope that nothing bad would happen as a result.

    After a while, he left and I began to organize the boxes so they could be used to hold the matches in the future.

    As I was fixing them, I pondered on where I could manufacture the matches.

    While I could use the property I had been previously using, it was a good distance away from the compound where I reside. Thus, it¡¯s hard to keep it secure and honestly, I felt too lazy to want to walk there from then on.

    ¡°Maybe somewhere in the compound? ¡° I thought.

    No.

    It¡¯s too cluttered.

    Most of the places that I had access to like the warehouse, were already full of things. Meaning it would be difficult to make a dedicated setup without trying to clear out vast amounts of items.

    The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

    The other places in the compound that are outside the vicinity of the warehouse are frequented by way too many people. I¡¯m sure that Qaton and Darat are the main people in charge of the warehouse, so it¡¯s safe for me to do whatever there. However, outside the warehouse is under someone else¡¯s jurisdiction.

    Even if I somehow managed to get permission to place my setup, there are too many prying eyes. Eventually, the process would get into someone else¡¯s hands and I shuddered to think what would happen if they somehow adjusted the formula to create gunpowder.

    Hmm.

    What about that basement?

    That could work.

    The only problem that I could possibly face using that room are the fumes, but that can be solved by testing the matches outside. It¡¯s also pretty secure because I can keep watch on it at all times.

    I still did need to ask Qaton about this.

    The next day¡­

    The next morning, I saw Qaton organizing some boxes in the warehouse and interrupted him to ask for his permission.

    After pointing to the basement, I uttered ¡°Make¡­matches?¡±

    He seemed confused for a moment, but he got it soon enough and gave an affirmative gesture.

    Now it''s time to transfer everything. Great.

    I made many trips with the wheelbarrow going back and forth from the house to the compound.

    I brought the obvious things like the sulfur, charcoal, potassium nitrate, match paste and the utensils I used to create the matches.

    But what took the most time was transferring various pieces of furniture from the house to the basement like the stools, tables and so on¡­

    Now that I had a bona fide workshop in the basement, it was time to start making matches.

    Several hours later¡­

    The sun had begun to set and after much work, I had one hundred matches ready to be sold.

    I decided to price each match at two bronze coins.

    Two bronze coins per match is pretty reasonable given how much money and effort they cost to create. Apparently the average laborer¡¯s meal would cost around one of those coins. So while it would be a bit pricey, overall it was probably way cheaper and easier than the alternative¡ªflint and steel.

    With the pricing taken care of, I had just one problem.

    Who would sell it?

    I couldn¡¯t do it since I have a face that would raise questions and probably make people suspicious of what I¡¯m selling. I didn¡¯t think Qaton and Darat could do it either since they are too busy, but I needed to trust them. Maybe if I ask them to recommend someone within the group they could trust, I could get someone reliable.

    And of course,

    The Zi are still out there.

    So just in case they realize that the business is affiliated with the smugglers, I wanted to hire someone else so I¡¯m not implicated.

    I decide to ask Qaton regarding this matter, and he refers me to Piyan.

    Who is this Piyan character you may ask?

    That was what I was about to find out.

    I asked Qaton to come with me to meet him, and he obliged.

    The more prudent thing to do would probably be to meet with him alone to prevent him from being intimidated, but I needed Qaton there as he was currently the only one who could understand my pathetic attempt at language and communicate with me in a way that I would understand.

    Once we got to the meeting point where Qaton said Piyan would be, I saw a familiar looking face. He had a pale complexion with dark eyes, the same face that escorted me out when I was in the room with the corpse. His eyes gave me the imperssion that he was a quite shifty person, but he was probably reliable enough if Qaton had recommended him.

    Qaton and Piyan exchanged pleasantries before Piyan asked a question which seemed directed at me.

    ¡°*** **** ** payment?¡±

    He spoke too quickly for me to be able to comprehend all of what he said, but the word payment made me assume that he was asking for how much I was to pay him.

    I whispered to Qaton an initial offer of eight coppers per day, which seemed like a reasonable amount. But when Qaton communicated this offer, his face scrunched up in a somewhat dismayed frown.

    He¡¯s not satisfied then.

    He briefly talked with Qaton, probably making a counteroffer, after which Qaton whispered that he wanted three silvers a day in exchange for his services.

    ¡°That¡¯s quite a lot.¡± I thought.

    I didn¡¯t even have initial funds yet.

    After thinking for a while, I uttered my final offer to Qaton.

    One silver and five coppers per day.

    If he didn¡¯t accept this offer, I would need to find someone else. Qaton relayed this to Piyan and after much consideration on his part, he fortunately accepted.

    It was official, then. He would be the face of the match selling operation.

    I went back to the store front with Piyan to prepare the product and show him its capabilities. He was briefly confounded by what I had shown him but soon after realized that it was what he was selling.

    We prepared the product in the evening and moved it into the crates in order to be ready for the next day, the day of my product¡¯s launch.

    The day of the launch¡­

    It was an overcast morning when Piyan started advertising the product in front of the stall, that was when he used some of the test matches that I had given him to show off.

    Due to that, a decent-sized crowd had begun to gather around him consisting of roughly twenty people.

    Qaton and I were watching his performance from a nearby alleyway.

    Piyan was doing the best he could, but there was only one problem¡ª

    No one is buying.

    The nearby onlookers seemed to have been intrigued by this display, but not confident enough to buy. It was a bit pricey after all, costing two bronzes, ¡°why risk your hard-earned money on what could be a trick when there were more established alternatives?¡± people probably thought.

    This was bad.

    As I was pondering our current predicament, I saw what looked like four traveling merchants with wagons passing by.

    I couldn¡¯t let this opportunity pass by.

    In a desperate attempt to attract some attention to the matches that were being sold I tapped on their carts and gestured towards the matches that Piyan were selling.

    Intrigued, they dismounted their carts and began to approach Piyan.

    They questioned him for a moment before until they were satisfied and took out some coins they had and purchased some.

    They each purchased around five each, adding up to a total of twenty matches sold which resulted in four silvers¡¯ worth of revenue.

    This stroke of fortune had somehow emboldened the onlookers to buy some, and more and more began to purchase at least one in order to try it out.

    I noticed some young men bought more matches seemingly to impress the people that they knew.

    I honestly didn¡¯t really care as long as they paid their share.

    Though, one person in particular caught my eye. He was a quite tall, thin looking man, not unlike Qaton¡¯s build, dressed in well-made garbs that had a hood woven into it. I didn¡¯t think he was some sort of common laborer, but someone who either was someone important or worked for someone like that.

    He disappeared just as quickly as I noticed him, so I made a mental note to remember his face in the future.

    After a few hours, Piyan had begun closing up the shop and began dissuading people from lingering any longer.

    That was odd.

    When Qaton and I approached him, he showed us that all of the matches that I had made had been replaced with stacks of silver and copper coins.

    If my math was right, it should have added up to around two gold coins.

    After Piyan showed me the coins, I gave him his silver coin and his five bronze ones. He unexpectedly bowed his head in a sign of respect before walking off, likely to spend his hard earned cash.

    It worked.

    Although I had my doubts that it would sell at all, the events of today had proven otherwise. Even Qaton seemed rather impressed at how much I earned from selling the matches that I had created.

    Although it was diminished slightly by Piyan¡¯s wage, I still had quite a decent amount of wealth.

    I needed to get back to the compound immediately, for there were always ne¡¯er do wells that would find it easier to rob someone of their hard earned money than work for it themselves.

    When I went back to the warehouse with Qaton, I sought out Darat and paid him one gold coin as a start for his monetary contributions. He seemed surprised by the speed in which I had earned back the money he had given me, but I could see that he was somewhat relieved that his funds didn¡¯t go to waste.

    Even though this whole venture was undoubtedly an unmitigated success, I had now just come to realize the extent of the danger that this business entailed.

    I didn¡¯t realize just how much attention it would attract until I actually saw the crowd of people that were buying the matches.

    This was certainly a good thing, but the attention that it brought could also spell danger.

    That hooded man, I do hope that he won¡¯t bring trouble.

 Chapter 10 - Yad

    My first day of creating and selling matches was, under no uncertain terms, a massive success.

    They were especially profitable since in this new world, the most convenient source of fire are rather slow and cumbersome flint and steel sets.

    Unlike the little match girl on my earth, match selling was a very lucrative endeavor which earned me a not insubstantial amount of gold and silver currency. Though this starting success can¡¯t last forever, and if I want to continue to create profit I would need to make the whole supply chain more efficient.

    And to do that I had to start from the beginning, the suppliers.

    To make matches I currently needed four crucial ingredients¡ª charcoal, sulfur, horse dung and wooden twigs.

    The horse dung would then be converted into potassium nitrate which alongside sulfur and charcoal would be used to create a sort of paste. This paste would be applied to the wooden twigs and dried to create the final product¡ª matches.

    I currently had enough of the raw ingredients and the paste to create maybe two hundred more matches. Though this paltry sum would probably not last me until the end of the week, so I needed to get more of the raw ingredients from the suppliers.

    To effectively negotiate with the suppliers, I would have to be assisted by my employer Qaton.

    I was currently allowed some time to see how far I could go with this idea, and he also had a stake in the success of my business which is why he agreed to help relay my intentions to the people I was about to meet.

    But in order to do any of that, I first needed to track down the suppliers which had given me the ingredients for the initial test run. And for that I needed to track down Shur, the merchant who had supplied everything I needed originally.

    I asked Qaton to follow me and at first he was rather confused, but once he noticed the distinct storefront of Shur¡¯s shop he understood what we were for.

    When we went inside the store Qaton greeted Shur with a look of recognition on his face, they obviously were acquainted. This was probably because Shur was somewhat connected with our smuggling ring, evidenced by the fact that Darat knew and trusted him.

    After initial pleasantries, Qaton went straight to business, ¡° Where *** *** *** the materials?¡±

    While some words were lost on me, I was able to recognize the fact that he was asking Shur on where he got the resources from.

    In response, Shur began listing off some unfamiliar words while hand counting¡ª probably to list off the suppliers of the materials.

    Once he had finished Qaton seemed to have understood where to go.

    After finishing up their conversation Qaton began leading me to a spot just outside the village by walking through a dirt path; a place where many logs were stacked up in a pile for some unknown purpose.

    By reason of deduction I concluded that it was either the source of charcoal or of the small wooden sticks due to them being the only materials that were involved with wood.

    After closer inspection I noticed that it resembled a charcoal pile on earth, leading me to conclude that we were trying to source charcoal here.

    As Qaton and I searched for a person to speak with, we happened upon the dwelling of a rather haggard old man, who in pleasant terms, smelled like the ¡°wild¡±.

    He seemed to live on his own in this camp and had grown used to the peace it gave, because when he started talking to us, he seemed rather anxious.

    Qaton asked him if he knew Shur by mentioning his name, and the charcoal burner¡¯s face lit up with recognition when we mentioned him.

    They obviously were acquainted.

    I requested Qaton to ask the man about the price of his charcoal, and when he did, he gestured the number two with his right hand.

    This meant that it cost two silvers to purchase the same amount of charcoal as last time, which was quite a lot.

    Though I thought that I could get it down cheaper.

    I asked Qaton the question of whether it would be cheaper if I had a more consistent arrangement with the charcoal maker, that way he would get a more consistent stream of income while I would get cheaper prices. How is it as a BM student- economics student supply and demand

    Depends if the old man has a surplus, if he sells out instantly then he would make the price remain the same

    Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

    He relayed this proposal to the man, and surprisingly he didn¡¯t seem opposed to it. From his gestures and the words that I could pick out, the price would drop to just one silver if I ordered on a regular basis.

    I asked Qaton to tell him that I would order for the next four weeks, with each shipment costing one silver, and I would pay when the four weeks had ended.

    This posed some amount of risk if I didn¡¯t attract enough business to pay the man, but I was confident that it wouldn¡¯t happen.

    The charcoal seller seemed satisfied with this arrangement and escorted us to the exit, not before greeting us goodbye.

    When we got back to the town we visited the local horse tamer which sold us his extra horse dung, the local lumberjack and the merchant that imported sulfur from faraway lands.

    We did the same thing with them and offered them continued patronage in exchange for a discount on their wares, which they accepted.

    The lumberjack and the horse breeder each accepted one silver every week in exchange for their supplies of horse excrement and small wooden sticks respectively.

    But the sulfur merchant was different because apparently it was harder to acquire than anything we previously had purchased, so instead of being worth one silver per crate like the rest of them, it was worth two.

    The next day we collected all the supplies we needed and used the stock we had left to create one hundred additional matches.

    The main limiting factor was the supply of sulfur and charcoal, because the sticks and the potassium nitrate weren¡¯t used as much compared to those materials.

    A week later¡­

    After making and selling matches for a week, Piyan eventually was able to sell around three hundred matches which gave us around six gold coins in income.

    One gold and five coppers went to Piyan for his wage, with the remaining four golds and nine silvers split between myself, material payment and Darat and Qaton for their share of the profits.

    While this match making endeavor brought levels of wealth that a regular peasant could only dream of, I feared that it was not enough. If I wanted the wealth to become untouchable, I needed more markets to sell to.

    With this in mind, I asked Qaton about the neighboring towns

    He described two neighboring villages that were within close distance from here.

    The village of Mifar was a coastal village known for its salt production in addition to the town of Shuben which is surrounded by a natural formation of large stone pillars which jut out from the earth.

    When referring to Mifar, Qaton said something that went along the lines of, They **** *** best salt ** Spania.¡±

    Spania.

    Spania?

    That name seemed rather familiar to me, could it be referring to something like Spain or Hispania as it is sometimes called?

    I dismissed the notion thinking, ¡°It¡¯s probably a coincidence.¡±

    Getting back to the topic at hand, I thought of ways to increase my reach in order to spread the sale of matches farther while watching Piyan sell the product in the stall he had.

    As I thought of a possible way to do this, I glanced upon some traveling merchants that Piyan had sold to.

    That¡¯s it.

    I can use those merchants to spread awareness of the matches.

    Based on my knowledge from the previous Earth, traveling merchants usually just bought goods and sold them to other places with no need to disclose where they got the product. But if they had an incentive to share this knowledge, like a monetary one for example, then they would be encouraged to spread the source of the matches to places far and wide.

    And if some local merchants wanted to source matches directly from me, then I didn¡¯t have to make the effort to actually set up locations in other areas. Instead I could act as their supplier and would be able to sell to more markets without any of the work that would come with it.

    In addition, if the news spread about the matches in other places, then traveling merchants would come here and increase the income that we made. And if one of the peddlers that we paid to spread the information didn¡¯t show any results then we would simply stop dealing with that person.

    I thought it was the perfect solution to help grow the matchmaking business.

    I explained to Qaton my plan and told him that in order to make it work, we needed Shur¡¯s connections as he was the most well-acquainted with these matters out of everyone we knew.

    We went to Shur¡¯s usual spot and Qaton explained to him, I gave him two gold coins that he could use to pay off the merchants and gave him nine silver pieces as thanks for his efforts.

    He pondered for a moment, not before leading us to a location in the opposite corner of town compared to the smuggler compound.

    It was an enclosed, square space where the chatter of around forty men who seemed to be traveling merchants filled the air.

    It seemed like this place was where the vendors met up, brokered information and exchanged goods between one another.

    As soon as we got there, Shur went to work.

    He began chatting up the merchants one after another, which went on for a good thirty minutes. While doing so, I noticed that he was slipping some of them silver coins at the end of their conversations, probably to entice them to spread the word of the matches amongst the people.

    In the corner of the square, I saw a man with similar robing to the one that we saw in the match shop, but I just dismissed it as being a man who wore a similar outfit as him.

    After Shur had done his magic, Qaton and I watched as an influx of traveling merchants bought our product and set off for other villages and towns. This was a good sign that the plan had worked, and for now all we needed to do was wait for its results.

    Though out of the corner of my eye, I noticed something very suspicious.

    I saw the same prominent looking man as before observing the commotion which the peddlers had brought. I thought I noticed him in the merchant¡¯s square before, but I chalked it up to me seeing things.

    But now that I look closer, it is the same person as before. He must have been observing us all this time ever since we started selling the matches.

    But why?

    I needed to figure it out.

    I beckoned for Qaton to follow me and approached the hooded man. I had Qaton relay the questions, ¡°Who are you?¡± and ¡°Where are you from?¡±.

    The man talked with Qaton for a bit, then Qaton agreed to follow him to his employer. We followed him into a rather grand-looking building, for a village at least, which seemed to be some sort of administrative center.

    We walked into a rather long hallway, passing many doors until eventually we met a rather short, fat man who looked like he was in his forties. He wore robes somehow even more expensive and extravagant than the man who observed us while giving off a somewhat greedy and self-indulgent aura.

    Qaton had me introduce myself to the man, so I introduced myself as ¡°Hamet¡±. The name that I had chosen for myself in this new world.

    My associate seemed to have recognized him and talked to him respectfully, referring to him as the ¡°Yad¡±. They had a long discussion where Qaton seemed to have been asked about some topics which the Yad would like to clear up which my language skills were too poor to understand.

    After what seemed like forever, the Yad¡¯s worker interrupted their conversation to bring his attention to other matters. And so after that, they said their goodbyes and Qaton and I left the building.

    While heading back to the compound, Qaton manages to relay to me that the Yad works in the king¡¯s stead to govern this town.

    Apparently he has let the smuggling group to its own devices as long as he gets a decent-sized donation every so often, which meant that he wasn¡¯t a stickler for the rules and cared more about his wealth than any moral or political obligation.

    How interesting.

    I wonder if he could help us with the Zi problem in the future?

 Chapter 11 - Proxy

    Qaton

    When I followed a hooded man to meet his master, I never expected to have to interact with the Yad. He was a man of great power and influence, and I would have to be careful around him.

    We were sitting on ornate oak seats in what looked like a lounge of sorts, with the distinct smell of various perfumes lingering in the air. The room simply emanated extravagance which displayed the tastes of its owner. This is probably where the Yad brought guests to talk and show them that he isn¡¯t to be trifled with.

    ¡°Greetings, Yad. My name is Qaton.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re one of Ishata¡¯s associates right?¡±

    ¡°Yes I am. How did you know that?¡± I asked with a surprised look.

    ¡°Well she tells me all about your little operation¡¯s going, you do know that you people ¡°assist¡± me right? Remember that I keep your little smuggling operation safe from the Zi, you would do well to get along with me.¡±

    Just then, I remembered our financial contributions that we sent to the Yad in exchange for his silence.

    ¡°Oh right, of course.¡±

    ¡°Anyway let¡¯s get to the matter at hand. Who is this boy you have with you?¡± the Yad asked.

    I beckoned the boy to introduce himself as Hamet and noticing the seriousness on my face, he greeted the Yad as politely as he could.

    Then I continued, ¡°He¡¯s to replace Halel, you knew him right?¡±

    ¡°Ah yes, Halel. A good man. Such a shame that the Zi got to him.¡± the Yad said with a disappointed sigh.

    ¡°Couldn¡¯t you have stopped them?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Unfortunately, my hands were tied. I do have direct orders from the king to assist in their efforts to investigate your organization. He said something about the Zi government sending men to investigate some smuggling incidents. So even though I don¡¯t particularly care about their success, I can¡¯t be seen trying to hinder their efforts. Halel was unfortunate, but we can¡¯t do much about him now.¡±

    ¡°Where are the Zi anyway? My partner Darat and I haven¡¯t seen them for about a month now.¡±

    ¡°Some rumor spread that they are the ones that killed Halel, so they went into hiding for now to let the heat die down.¡± explained the Yad.

    ¡°I understand.¡±

    The Yad was satisfied with my answer until he seemed to have remembered that he still had things that he wanted to ask me?

    ¡°We got a bit sidetracked there again, let¡¯s get back to the topic I meant to ask you. Who is this Hamet boy and why do my people tell me about some sort of flame stick?¡±

    ¡°We don¡¯t know where he came from but since he had some useful skills we hired him as a steward, and for some reason he had an idea for a product and Darat funded him. I¡¯m acting as his interpreter for now because Darat and I both have a stake in his success.¡±

    ¡°I see. You really don¡¯t know anything about where he¡¯s from?¡± the Yad asked in an incredulous tone.

    ¡°As of right now he can¡¯t speak our language well enough to communicate complex ideas, so either he can¡¯t tell us where he came from or simply does not want to tell us.¡±

    ¡°So that¡¯s why he can¡¯t understand us? Alright, I trust that you can keep an eye on him. Can you make sure he doesn¡¯t do anything that creates too much disorder?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s what I¡¯m doing right now.¡±

    With his concerns assuaged, something else seemed to have crossed his mind. He leaned over to quietly talk to me, making sure that no one else could hear what he had to say.

    The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    ¡°Also, do you know the formula for his product by any chance? Something as successful as his matches can¡¯t belong to him alone.¡± the Yad said with a greedy smirk on his face.

    ¡°I don¡¯t, he maintains a high level of secrecy a lot of the time.¡± I admitted.

    ¡°Maybe you can¡ª¡±

    The subordinate that led me to him whispered something in his ear which seemed to have caused him some amount of distress, after the man finished, the Yad began to stand up.

    ¡°I apologize, I have to attend to something. I bid you farewell.¡±

    ¡°Thank you for your time.¡±

    As Hamet and I walked out the building I couldn¡¯t help but wonder if the Yad would try to influence the boy to his favor.

    I couldn¡¯t have him do that.

    That honor belonged to me.

    Hamet

    The next day¡­

    Recently I have just learned that the Zi aren¡¯t the only ones that can pose a threat to me in this town.

    According to Qaton the person that runs the place in the king¡¯s stead, the Yad, is quite formidable himself.

    Though there isn¡¯t anything to worry about because we have an ¡°arrangement¡± with him apparently.

    So the Yad is aware of the smuggling ring?

    Well if something happens because of that, it¡¯s not my concern. I have more important things to take care of.

    For example, squaring off my debts was one of those things. I had finally managed to repay all the investment that Darat had initially given me back. Now, I could focus on growing the business and increasing profits instead of having to concern myself with paying back what I owed. In order to do that, I would have had to ramp up production. Like a lot.

    But first, I still had obligations to the organization that hired me. Darat and Qaton may have let me take a week-long break to get my affairs in order, but work piles up. Eventually I thought it would be prudent to ask Qaton for the work so I could get it over with. A lot of records were made when I was busy, but eventually I managed to finish it all.

    While waiting for Qaton to come back for the final manuscript, I realized something. A good business takes records of everything that they sell and purchase and I had easy access to writing materials and things to write it on.

    When Qaton got and collected what I wrote, I asked him if I could use the paper to make records of the matchmaking business. He permitted me to do this, probably because it would benefit him in the long run, and I got to work writing down what I remembered from my sales.

    If I recalled correctly, the first day was the most profitable with the following week being slightly less profitable. I also tallied down the price of the materials that I would use, Piyan¡¯s wage as well as Darat and Qaton¡¯s profit.

    If the business went on like this, every week I would probably earn around three gold coins for myself every week. This was a decent figure, but in order to earn more I would need to produce more.

    I had already received the first shipment of supplies that morning, so I started preparing the excrement for the nitration process. It would be a while before it turned into potassium nitrate, but I still had a decent quantity left that I could use for the next month.

    So, I had a decent amount of supplies and had the production capacity to make hundreds of matches a day. There was only one bottleneck in this whole operation right now¡ª the store.

    While I was well aware that Piyan was doing the best he could and was selling the product well, its distant location probably affected its ability to generate sales. In addition to that, only one person was currently selling the product and advertising it which isn¡¯t the best if I want the maximum amount of sales each day.

    In addition to that, Piyan¡¯s role as the sole seller of matches in this town brought lots of attention as evidenced by the robed man we encountered. We needed to make it so that the focus wasn¡¯t only on him so that our operation could continue smoothly without any interference from the Zi.

    That was when it hit me.

    We needed to wholesale the matches.

    To wholesale the matches we could contact local prominent merchants using Shur and sell them the matches at a slightly higher price.

    This would do two things. One, it would deflect the focus from Piyan and I to the other merchants that would be selling the matches. Two, it would allow the reach of the matches to be widened, so that more people would have easier access to the purchase of matches.

    But for this to work, I would need absolute secrecy from the people I sell to.

    Maybe I could use Shur as a proxy and make him my contact?

    This would allow me to have a degree of separation from the people I would be dealing with, allowing my involvement to remain hidden.

    I decided that this was the best course of action and asked Qaton to contact Shur once more.

    I informed Qaton of my plan beforehand and he seemed to agree with it, so he communicated this proposition to Shur and offered him some of the extra profit that would come from the matches. Thankfully, Shur found these terms acceptable and agreed to act as the proxy for the matches.

    What he didn¡¯t know was that my other reason for using him as a proxy was to protect myself. So if the Zi caught onto our involvement in the matchmaking scheme, they would encounter a red herring by the name of Shur. He had a decent amount of connections in this village so the Zi wouldn¡¯t be able to get to him so easily, without alarming us in advance.

    Later that night, Shur met some of the main merchants near the match store. Qaton and I were watching the exchange, but he had already left to go back to the compound.

    He was with around five merchants, their clothing and demeanor indicated that they were relatively affluent and successful in their trade. When Shur showed them the utility of the matches, they all had reactions that ranged from confusion to curiosity.

    Nonetheless, they all had the same thought.

    ¡°I need to acquire those matches.¡±

    As I watched them eagerly deal with Qaton, I made a self-satisfied smirk.

    A sign of a job well done.

    Feeling that I didn¡¯t need to stick around any longer, I began walking back to the compound. While walking I noticed a few sources of light walking around, I went closer to investigate but what I saw chilled me to the bone.

    The Zi.

    They were here.

    I didn¡¯t know why they were here, but I noticed that they were looking for something¡­ or someone.

    Before they noticed me I sprinted out of there as fast as I could, leaving only the sound of my footsteps echoing behind me. They probably heard the sound of me running, but they weren¡¯t able to find me in the night¡¯s inky darkness.

    All the fears that I had were suddenly real.

    The Zi were a threat once more.

    And what they did to Halel, they could do to me¡­

 Chapter 12 - Arson

    They are on to me.

    I had spent the last few days trying to find ways to obfuscate my involvement in the matchmaking business and just when I thought that I solved that problem, another one reared its ugly head.

    I was observing my contact, Shur, while he was helping me find established merchants who I could whole-sale matches to but while I was walking back to the smuggler compound, I chanced upon my dreaded foes.

    The Zi.

    While my first encounter with them wasn¡¯t exactly cordial, it wasn¡¯t like they had a vendetta for me specifically. But their presence that night led me to believe that they had somehow gotten word that the matchmaking business was connected to the smugglers ring that they were investigating, which happened to be the same group which my employers were in.

    Even if they knew about the operation¡¯s ties to the matchmaking group, they still would only have no real evidence for it. But unfortunately for me, I happened to stumble onto them while they were looking for Shur and his merchant connections.

    While the cover of night allowed me to escape, I had no doubt that they were at least able to see a glimpse of my face.

    They probably weren¡¯t able to concretely prove that I was connected to the people they were investigating yet. But I didn¡¯t want to imagine what kind of questioning I would be subjected to if they were to take me captive.

    It¡¯s obvious to say that I did not sleep well that night.

    The next morning¡­

    When I woke up, I walked a path with my wheelbarrow that I had tread many times before¡ª the one leading to my testing facility.

    Well testing facility is too important a word for it, it was merely a house Darat showed me in which I created the first matches. Though now I moved over the production process to the compound basement, so I didn¡¯t need to go back here except to tend to the potassium nitrate creation process.

    The reason I was there was because I needed to remove every bit of evidence that linked me to the matchmaking process.

    Any speck of sulfur, misplaced furniture or errant stain could give the Zi clues which would give away my position. Even though I meticulously made sure that I left no trace of ever being there, the foul smell of sulfur still remained. I would have to hope that the Zi didn¡¯t find the connection between the smell of rotten eggs to the creation of matches.

    Although that would only matter if they actually found the house.

    ¡°What¡¯s the chance of that happening?¡± I thought.

    I went back to the compound with all the spare furniture and placed it all in the basement. I collected what was useful to me¡ª a few small tables that I could use in my manufacturing setup.

    Once that was done, I began to start on my clerical work for that day. But the usual rhythm of productivity was replaced by something else entirely.

    Fear.

    I felt an eerie tingling sensation crawl up my spine, like when an unseen spider makes its way onto your back. A growing sense of unease clouded my mind, taunting me. I waited out this feeling, hoping that it would disappear with time.

    News flash!

    It did not.

    Although I managed to finish writing my records for that day, the anxiety didn¡¯t go away but merely faded as if it hid in some dark recess of my mind.

    In another attempt to get rid of the feeling, I started making matches for my business and when I was finished with them waited for Piyan to show up. Ever since the business had started, he came and picked up the matches here in the compound.

    Knowing this, I simply waited for around an hour until he arrived. He had a slightly worried look on his face, his gaze darting from place to place. When I asked him about the Zi, he looked at me with a shocked expression, as if unable to believe what came out of my mouth.

    ¡°*** Zi **** visiting *** shop, **** asked ** ** saw * boy **** you .¡± he admitted.

    This was bad.

    This was really bad.

    I had hoped that my worries were all bits of unfounded paranoia.

    Unfortunately, they weren¡¯t.

    A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

    Even when I couldn¡¯t understand half of what Piyan said, I still could get the meaning. The Zi were growing suspicious of my presence in this town and were actively trying to look for me. As he walked away, I realized that I needed to do something about the Zi and I needed to do it soon.

    Really soon.

    Two hours later¡­

    I didn¡¯t think my emotions were that obvious but, while passing by, Darat noticed my state of tension. He asked me what I was worried about, and I told him about the Zi. He told me that it wasn¡¯t my problem and to let them take care of it. Darat also said that there would be a group meeting about my matchmaking business and that it would be best to prepare myself for it.

    He was probably right of course but my mind still wasn¡¯t moved. I still wanted them gone, no matter what it would take. So instead of listening to Darat, I went to Qaton behind his back.

    I found Qaton in the warehouse again, sorting and arranging the Alham and other various goods that were stored there. I spoke to him, and asked him if there was anything that could be done about the Zi.

    He told me that the reason for their current state of inaction against the Zi was that they couldn¡¯t really do anything to them. Apparently, they were sent by a foreign government to investigate the illegal trade of Alham.

    I knew that much.

    However Qaton explained to me that because of the fact that their government was prestigious and were famous for the export of Alham, it would be hard to even land a blow on them with their Alham-coated armor. Even if they somehow managed to kill or capture the Zi, it would raise red flags amongst their government and they would know to send more soldiers to this town. Instead of just six Zi soldiers, it would be dozens that come to destroy the smuggling ring.

    Therefore, they either needed to wait the Zi out or find some way to make them leave.

    That¡¯s why they haven¡¯t been doing anything, there¡¯s nothing that they can do.

    When he finished his explanation to me, he got up and continued on with his work.

    ¡°So I need a plan that will make them leave voluntarily.¡± I thought.

    In order to think properly, I went to my desk and sat down. Having nothing to do, I tried thinking of possible plans to make the Zi leave this town.

    Unfortunately, most of them didn¡¯t work and were unrealistic.

    Thankfully this obsessive brooding was cut short by the sound of Darat calling for Qaton. It seemed like he had something he wanted to discuss with him. I heard Qaton come to him and thought nothing of it, that was until I heard Darat mention the word ¡°Zi¡±.

    My mind started racing as I strained my ears in an attempt to understand what they were saying.

    I heard something along the lines of ¡°I have ******** ****, Shur ***** ** Zi base, ** you **** to **** **** me to ***********¡±

    There was one thing he said that caught my attention, ¡°Zi base¡±. The rest of what he said, I couldn¡¯t understand but that was the only thing important to me. The door began to creak open as they exited the warehouse, probably to go to the Zi base they were talking about.

    I was faced with a choice; follow them and risk danger or sit still and do nothing. Contrary to Darat¡¯s advice on not worrying about the Zi, I followed them.

    It was a foolish decision to have made, but I had to do it. I couldn¡¯t stand by and stay idle, especially while the danger involved me specifically.

    I followed Qaton and Darat through the town, being careful not to be seen by them. This eventually led me to a run down house that looked as if it was at the brink of ruin. One of its wall¡¯s had a shoddily covered hole which gave the structure even more of a derelict image.

    Thankfully the Zi were nowhere to be found, which allowed Darat and Qaton a chance to question the neighbors of the house. While they were preoccupied with questioning other people, I took the opportunity to break into the house through the hole in the wall. Since it was only covered by a wooden board on the outside, it was easy to move and get into the building.

    The room where I was in was as empty as it was small. It had neither proper flooring or stable walls, it looked like it was a later, more haphazard addition to the already neglected house. I went through the door and was in a slightly larger room which had nothing but a wooden stool in the middle.

    A bit odd.

    As I walked around the house, the eerie silence was almost deafening.

    I opened a studier, more solid looking door and happened upon six straw beds which occupied most of the room¡¯s space. In the corner was a desk containing some foreign looking documents adjacent to a wooden chest which looked like it was barely used. I opened it and found a variety of objects, the most interesting of which was a cowskin whip which looked like it had the same material as the Zi¡¯s armor, Alham.

    When I touched it without much force, it felt like rubber. However, when I pulled, stretched or put any amount of moderate force, it immediately gained the texture of a metal.

    So this is what Alham does.

    I¡¯ll have to experiment with the Alham in the warehouse later on.

    I then turned my attention to the desk which had some documents which were written in parchment. I didn¡¯t understand what was written on the documents, but I took ones that had a seal on them, thinking that they were important.

    I made sure to leave the documents as neat as I found them and I put back the whip in order to cover my tracks.

    I went through the rest of the house and found nothing of note,as it all seemed unused except for those three rooms. I then exited where I came from, remembering to put back the wooden board that was covering the wall.

    When I made my way outside, I noticed that I didn¡¯t see Qaton and Darat anymore. As a matter of fact, I didn¡¯t see a soul anywhere in my vicinity. Confused, I looked around in an attempt to find something which would answer my confusion. But instead of people, I saw a large smoke plume come from the opposite side of town.

    What?

    Isn¡¯t that where the testing house is?

    I rushed over there to see what was going on, and I found a large crowd of people standing around a burning house. There were men with pails trying to quell the fire, but it was to no avail.

    Wait. Isn¡¯t that the house that I was using?

    I wondered how such a thing happened until I found my answer amongst the crowd. I spotted the Zi amongst the onlookers, and I wondered ¡°Did they do it?¡±.

    ¡°Maybe it could have been an accident?¡± I thought to myself.

    I rejected this idea, out of all the houses that existed, the one I had used had been burned.

    This was intentional.

    And if it was intentional, the most likely candidate were the Zi.

    If this was true, then it meant one thing¡ª they were sure that the matchmaking business was connected to me and that I could be one of the people that they were looking for.

    This was their way of telling me ¡°We know what you¡¯re doing.¡±

    I was playing with fire, and if I wasn¡¯t careful I was about to get scorched.

    ¡°If they see me, they will go after me.¡± I realized.

    I needed to leave, immediately.

    Thankfully they had yet to see me, but I was still holding the documents that I had stolen from them and I needed to bring them back to the compound and needed to get back as soon as possible.

    I ran as fast as I could back to the base of operations, and I put down the documents I had taken from the Zi.

    As I held my head in my hands, I reflected on how the day had been nothing but utter chaos.

    I was in the most danger I had ever been in. The whole world felt like it would come crashing through.

    Who knew that they would use arson as a warning?

    Wait, arson.

    Could I use arson to get them kicked out of the town?

    I pondered for a moment before making a sudden realization with a slight grin.

    I could.

    That could work.

    Their act of aggression had given me the makings of a plan.

    This whole day had been nothing but chaos, but it had given me an idea.

    An idea on how to get rid of the Zi for good.

 Chapter 13 - Discord

    Qaton

    ¡°Are you ready for the meeting, Darat?¡± asked.

    He was deep in thought but my question snapped him out of it.

    ¡°Yes,¡± he replied.

    Over the last month, something had changed about Darat.

    It was noticeable for most people, but for someone who knew him as long as I had, it was clear enough to detect.

    The increased amount of idle brooding, the tension in his face and the increased recklessness with his actions recently had caused me to see a difference in his usual personality.

    It had probably started around when he found out that Halel died, and had continued until this very moment.

    I hoped that it wouldn''t affect the outcome of the meeting that was about to happen.

    The reason for our gathering was to discuss recent events ¡ªthe starting of Hamet¡¯s matchmaking business and the flame that burned down Halel¡¯s old home.

    The fire was probably the work of the Zi, the men who were currently trying to investigate further into the smuggling activities which Darat and I were associated with. After the fire had happened, we found Hamet in the compound looking disheveled.

    We had asked him what happened and Hamet had revealed how the Zi had somehow discovered his connection with the matchmaking business.

    Since the house that was burned down used to be owned by one of our members, many in our smuggling ring would probably think that the Zi arson was committed as a warning. A warning that was trying to either cause panic within our ranks or cause division between ourselves.

    That was the topic of the upcoming discussion, and seeing as it involved Hamet, we asked him to come along with us. Due to the fact that he wasn¡¯t able to communicate properly with other people, we asked him to merely observe and not try to talk at any point during the meeting.

    The meeting was set to be a few hours after midnight to ensure the secrecy of the discussion as well as to make sure that everyone was free to join in the assembly.

    We entered the conference a bit before it started with around three quarters of the participants present. The people that were present stared at Hamet with intrigued looks when he entered the room, his unique appearance made him a stark contrast to the people around him. They had probably heard of his accomplishments from Piyan and were impressed by him. He seemed a bit disturbed by the attention but Hamet wasn¡¯t too rattled by what was going on.

    So we waited a few moments until everyone was present, then after a while Ishata stood up and began the meeting.

    Most of the members of our group had heard of the success of the matchmaking shop from Piyan and were on our side for now. But if Ishata had her way, she would have us get rid of Hamet and anything to do with him to make sure that we weren¡¯t discovered.

    This was a defensive battle, we just needed to make sure that we maintained the group¡¯s positive opinion of Hamet.

    Ishata¡¯s role as our representative to the Yad and de facto leader allowed her a lot of authority and respect in the group. Like the last time the group convened, she once again held an oppositionary role and started speaking out against us.

    ¡°Your foolishness has caused danger to our whole operation.¡± she said with a scolding tone.

    She pointed to the boy and said to us ¡°Your support of the boy¡¯s antics has led to increased attention from the Zi.¡±

    I started my defense by explaining our reasoning.

    ¡°For the longest time, we have had to maintain the utmost secrecy but this goal has limited us.¡±

    ¡°We need some way to influence the people without going to the Yad every time, we can¡¯t rely on him for everything. So, Darat and I started supporting Hamet in order to create more opportunities for us to increase our reach.¡±

    Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

    She seemed a bit dubious of our claims.

    ¡°You are aware that the Zi literally burned down Halel¡¯s house, right? This is proof that your Hamet¡¯s business is only causing problems for us.¡±

    Emboldened by the whispers of agreement heard around the room, she continued speaking.

    ¡°You are being too reckless, Halel would be ashamed by your actions.¡±

    At the mention of Halel¡¯s name, I could sense that Darat was deeply affected by her words. I shot him a glance, signaling him to ignore her provocation, but he ignored me.

    ¡°What would you know about what Halel thought?¡± Darat interjected.

    He obviously wasn¡¯t in his right mind, Ishata¡¯s retort about Halel had brought out his anger. He needed to keep himself in control if we wanted to maintain our advantage.

    But Ishata pounced at the opportunity that presented itself.

    ¡°I know that he wouldn¡¯t want you to lead the Zi right to us, especially when they are at our doorstep.¡±

    Darat took a moment to calm himself, then spoke.

    ¡°We need to take action, that is what Halel would have wanted. We needed more options, so I patronized Hamet¡¯s business. Laying down and doing nothing isn¡¯t an option for us, we need to explore every avenue available to us.¡±

    I hoped that his words would be enough to convince the group, but Ishata had something else in mind.

    ¡°You have no solution. You talk of solutions yet all you do is invite danger to us. We need to get rid of Hamet and all of the problems he causes in order to truly be safe. It¡¯s your fault that Halel died, your carelessness has brought ruin to him and will do the same to all of us unless we protect ourselves.¡±

    She had dealt a damning blow to Darat as well as to our cause.

    Darat was fuming with rage, his emotions were in turmoil as a result of what Ishata had said. He stomped out of the room, obviously unable to take it anymore and went to be alone.

    Ishata had a slight grin as Darat left because she knew she had won. Compared to the considerable advantage we had at the beginning, we were now losing badly. Only a third of them were on our side, with another third agreeing completely with what Ishata said and the remaining ones probably just wanted Hamet to cease his business.

    After Darat stormed out, the room devolved into a chaos of arguing and yelling.

    It was the epitome of discord.

    In an attempt to regain control, I said ¡°Let¡¯s reconvene in two days, let¡¯s wait for our emotions to settle and then we can talk about things calmly.¡±

    Ishata surprisingly was onboard with the idea.

    ¡°I agree, we can meet again in two days to finalize our decision.¡±

    She probably intended to convince the remaining members not on her side during those two days. But I didn¡¯t care because I had more important things to take care of, because I had an inkling that Darat would do something rash.

    I took Hamet and came across Darat while returning back to the warehouse. He had a dark expression on his face as he brooded over something that clearly bothered him.

    ¡°What are you thinking of?¡± I asked.

    He didn¡¯t reply to me, but his silence spoke volumes.

    ¡°I know you want to kill the Zi.¡± I said.

    ¡°Do not. That wouldn¡¯t end well for us.¡±

    ¡°I don''t care.¡±

    ¡°Why are you doing this?¡± I asked him in a pained voice.

    He stared into my eyes,¡°They need to pay for what happened to Halel and should be punished.¡±

    That was when I saw the true extent of his hatred for the Zi. He had been bottling up his feelings, and now they were finally revealing themselves. He has been a bit more reckless recently, as seen with his patronage of Hamet, but I had just thought that it was due to the threat of the Zi.

    I didn¡¯t realize how much Halel¡¯s death had affected him until that point. But after that realization, I could clearly see how far his utter disdain for the Zi ran. I wouldn¡¯t have been surprised if he planned to butcher the Zi with his bare hands.

    ¡°How exactly will you get your vengeance?¡±

    ¡°Simple. I¡¯ll get some oil and some of Hamet¡¯s matches, then I¡¯ll char them while they''re asleep.¡± Darat said with a cheery smile. The stark contrast between his words and his facial expression had struck me as eerie.

    ¡°That won¡¯t end well for us, more Zi will come if they die.¡±

    ¡°I still don¡¯t care.¡±

    ¡°We can get them out, we don¡¯t have to kill them. We can find a way.¡± I pleaded.

    He briefly thought for a moment, then decided on a response.

    ¡°You have one day.¡±

    One day? I thought it was impossible to think of a plan and execute it in one day. I assumed he must have been playing a sick joke on me.

    ¡°One day? I don¡¯t think I can do that.¡±

    ¡°Good, then I¡¯ll get my revenge.¡±

    I put my hand to my face and sighed.

    ¡°You leave me no choice. I have to try.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t have to try if it¡¯s impossible. Just sit back and remember that this time tomorrow. I¡¯ll start with the plan.¡±

    He has lost it.

    Darat¡¯s emotional volatility had made him abandon all rationality.

    I had but one day to make sure that the Zi leave this town peacefully because we couldn¡¯t risk the Zi government catching on to the fact that our group operates from here.

    At this point if I tried to stop him physically he would simply overpower me, and even if he had the whole group against him, he would just escape and execute his plan anyway.

    The smuggling ring was too disorganized to help currently, and I had no contacts that had the mental acumen to whip up a plan on such short notice.

    Well actually there was one person I could try to ask, but it would be a gamble.

    Hamet

    Ten minutes later¡­

    Qaton approached me, looking panicked, and asked me what I would do if I had to get rid of the Zi by tomorrow.

    He explained to me how Darat gave him a deadline of a day to get rid of the Zi and that we needed to make them leave peacefully.

    It was a really short deadline but it could be done if I knew just one thing.

    I asked him how the Zi needed to leave in order to create the best outcome and he said that they needed to either leave of their own volition or be told to leave by their government.

    As I pondered on how to best achieve this, the pieces began to assemble themselves within my mind. The elements of the Yad, the arson and the Zi fit together like puzzle pieces and made a plan with such simplicity and elegance.

    I described how my plan would work to Qaton and he was surprised by its simplicity and effectiveness.

    His eyes lit up as he agreed to help me.

    The scheme to get rid of the Zi had started.

 Chapter 14 - Enactment

    Last night, Qaton approached me about Darat.

    After he stormed out of the meeting, he didn¡¯t seem like he was doing too well. Especially because of what he shared with Qaton.

    According to Qaton, he has one day to get rid of the Zi, or else Darat will do it himself.

    Violently.

    Needless to say, there would be dire consequences if Darat got what he wanted.

    So he went to me to figure out a plan, although he didn¡¯t seem that confident of the outcome. But when I explained my idea, his expression brightened and he suddenly regained some of the confidence that he had lost.

    The smuggling ring was still disorganized after the chaos that was last night. Due to this, Qaton was unable to gather any of the group¡¯s funds to fend off the Zi, so only I had the resources to do anything about the Zi right now.

    Thankfully, I had a few golds I could use to pull some strings.

    I had only a day before Darat made his move, so I needed to make the most of the time that I had.

    To start with the first step of my plan, I asked him to lead me to a place that was familiar to both of us.

    The Yad¡¯s town hall.

    The Yad was the administrator of this village, he collected the taxes and was the arbitrator for any disputes that may occur in the town. While he wasn¡¯t inept at these duties, his weakness for the more extravagant things in life gave us an opening to exploit.

    This was something that I could take advantage of.

    I asked Qaton to lead us to him, and after he talked with one of his clerics, we eventually found a quite short, important-looking man who could not be recognized as anything other than the Yad. After he noticed our arrival, he seemed a bit confused as to why I was meeting him now.

    Qaton and the Yad briefly greeted each other before Qaton said something to him that brought a look of surprise on his face.

    ¡°Hamet **** ** speaking ** you *******.¡±

    Although I couldn¡¯t understand some of Qaton¡¯s words, as usual, I was certain that I knew his meaning.

    He was telling the Yad that I was to speak to the Yad, through Qaton.

    I knew this because it was part of the plan I detailed to Qaton, in order to execute my proposed plan, I needed to lay the groundwork necessary. And to do that, I needed to tell the Yad my thoughts directly instead of having Qaton talk with him for me.

    Although I still needed to ask my questions through Qaton, I began my meeting with the magistrate of this town.

    To begin, I requested Qaton to ask the Yad what instructions he was given in regards to having the Zi in the town.

    After taking some time to recall his thoughts, he responded that he was to supervise the Zi and make sure that they didn¡¯t interfere too heavily with the peace of the village. But if they did, the Yad was meant to communicate this fact to the king so it could be relayed back to their government and so that they would be forced to leave by their higher-ups.

    This was useful information that he shared with us.

    This meant that the Yad and the king had no interest in letting the Zi stay and that they were only there because of the wishes of their government.

    However, if they were to be seen causing trouble in the village, it would be relayed back to their government and they would be ordered to leave.

    This also meant that the Zi hadn¡¯t yet influenced the Yad, and that he wouldn¡¯t be on their side if something happened to them.

    After taking a moment to recollect my thoughts, I put a part of my plan into motion. I asked the Yad if he could spread the news that the Zi had committed a crime, if something eventful were to happen to the village.

    You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

    When Qaton relayed this proposition to him, he responded with a confused look and asked for more clarification.

    I told him that in a few hours, after midnight, something drastic would happen. This was to be the final phase of my plan, and it would be noticed by the whole town. So when the people look for someone to blame, I wanted to make sure that everyone would point fingers to the Zi. The Yad¡¯s credibility alongside the Zi¡¯s status as outsiders would make sure that everything goes according to plan.

    He asked me if there were going to be any deaths involved, however I said in reply that he wouldn¡¯t have to worry about anyone being killed. Maybe he had to overlook the fact that a bit of property was going to be destroyed, but I could assure him that none of the villagers were about to be harmed.

    After thinking for a while, he looked at me and said to ¡°convince¡± him that I would need three golds while gesturing the number three in his hand.

    It was quite a hefty amount, but it would have been way more if he was in the pocket of the Zi. So three gold coins to get my way was a price that I was willing to accept.

    I took out three gold pieces that I had gotten from the matchmaking business and placed them one by one in the Yad¡¯s outstretched hand. When he was assured of its authenticity, he flashed a covetous smile while giving his thanks towards me.

    I also asked him for a map of the whole town, and as a gesture of good will, he gave me one from a nearby drawer without any additional charge.

    Then he asked me a question that I was able to understand entirely: ¡°What will you do with my help and the map I gave you?¡±

    Without the need for Qaton¡¯s help, I replied:

    ¡°You¡¯ll see.¡±

    All while brandishing a rather cryptic smile.

    The details that he wanted to know would be revealed in due time. He needed only be patient for a little while longer.

    And with that, we ended our meeting and said our farewells. Out of the earshot of the Yad, I asked Qaton whether I could truly trust the Yad and he said while the Yad was many things, he wasn¡¯t one to go back on his word. And so, I was assured that I would be able to rely on the Yad for the aftermath of my plan.

    When we got back, Qaton and I began working on the final phase of my plan. I asked him to mark buildings on the map I had that didn¡¯t have any people living in them, were made out of wood and were rather isolated from any other structures.

    He got the wooden stylus he used for papyrus and encircled buildings on the map that fit the criteria that I laid out.

    I took the annotated map and went out for a walk, with the intention of familiarizing myself with the locations of the marked areas.

    As I walked around, being careful not to be spotted by the Zi, I noticed that most of the buildings that Qaton had marked were abandoned, wooden homes. However some of what he put on the map were also warehouses for some local businesses.

    Although I thought about how the owners of these structures might be affected by my plan, I comforted myself in the fact that at least no lives would be taken. I hadn¡¯t yet taken a life and I didn¡¯t intend to start anytime soon.

    After I finished making a round through the village to make sure I was familiar with the location of the marked buildings, I went back to the compound to prepare for the execution part of the plan.

    To make sure that my plan went unnoticed by the town, I waited until an hour after midnight in order to make sure that the townspeople were all asleep. I was preparing what I needed for the plan, mainly matches and a coarse rock to light them.

    Qaton stayed up to go over the plan with me, and before I left, he wished me luck.

    My heart began to race as the time for the final part of the plot had come.

    The core idea of the plan itself was actually quite simple.

    Arson.

    Ever since I heard about their disappearance due to Halel¡¯s death from Qaton, I realized something important. This town doesn¡¯t trust them at all. And why would they?

    To them, they are dangerous outsiders who are intruding in their hometown for an incomprehensible reason. If something as quiet as Halel¡¯s death required them to lay low for an entire month, what would happen if something more obvious was pinned on them. Something like arson?

    While I had some sort of a moral code, arson was one of those crimes that didn¡¯t really bother me all too much. As long as nobody ended up dead, I didn¡¯t really care. All that mattered to me was that the people that kept me alive in this new world stayed alive, and I would do almost anything to keep it that way.

    So if I had to burn a few unoccupied buildings to make sure the Zi didn¡¯t threaten them anymore, it wasn¡¯t any sweat off of my back. The plan was that, hopefully, when the villagers discovered the arson that had been committed, they would look for someone to blame.

    And the Yad with his connections would spread the idea that the Zi had done it, so the whole town would be against them. If they had property in those buildings, at least it would spur their anger and make it more intense. No man is an island, as the old saying goes, and because the village would be against them at that point, no one would want to sell anything to them.

    They wouldn¡¯t have food, water or even shelter because the people who rented them their current abode would probably kick them out. They would probably grumble, but they would probably make up some excuse as to why they left the village and investigate some place else.

    The addition thing that the Yad mentioned about them stirring up trouble was just an added benefit at that point, it was just another thing that my plan could fall back on if they were insistent on staying in the town.

    The Zi themselves inspired the idea when they burned down the experimentation house that I used. So in a way, it was some sort of karmic justice for them to be framed for that same crime.

    This was my best attempt at a plan and there was no point in wondering what would happen if it went wrong, for the obvious answer to that was either death or captivity for me and those associated with me.

    So I had no choice but to assume that this plan would work, and wish myself luck that it did.

    I started making my rounds around the village with only my matches and the rock that I would use to light them. I anxiously made sure that I walked quietly until I got to the first building that was marked with the map.

    As I lit the first match, I noticed my hands trembling. It took a few tries but I managed to light the wooden structure before me. The wall I had set the match on burned a bright yellow as the fire spread to the whole premises. But I had no time to waste, I needed to make sure that all the buildings were burned before I was caught.

    I made my way to every building that was marked on my map, with the light of the fires illuminating the sketch I had in my hands. As I set the last building ablaze, I noticed that some people had come out of their homes to investigate the fires.

    Thankfully they hadn¡¯t yet noticed me, so I dashed back to the compound and watched the flames from its doorstep. The blazes filled the evening sky with a cloud of smoke which blotted out the night sky and turned the heavens into a sooty gray

    From the doorstep of the compound, I watched as the owners of the buildings desperately tried to put the fires out, but it was to no avail, for the fires just kept on raging. My heart went out to the innocent people caught up in this mess, but another part of me was happy that the plan had worked out as intended.

    Amidst the pandemonium, I caught a perverse smile forming on my face. But this wasn¡¯t due to some sick pleasure derived from people¡¯s anguish. Instead, it was from the simple joy of knowing that everything was going the way I intended.

    At that moment, I really hoped my predictions would come true. It would be a shame if all the torment I had caused would be in vain. But I knew in my heart that what I did needed to be done ¡ªfor myself and the people who supported me.

 Chapter 15 - Aftermath

    As the Zi left the town, I breathed a sigh of relief and thought to myself

    ¡°We won.¡±

    The Yad had held his part of the bargain, he spread the word that the Zi were the ones to burn the town. There had been some calls to point to my matchmaking business as the problem, but the Yad was quick to make sure that all of the blame lay solely on the Zi. Though I would need to do something about that in the near future.

    It was slightly anticlimactic, as they were given no chance to fight back. However, I couldn¡¯t risk them finding out more about the smuggling ring.

    Still even if they had been forced out of the village, this wasn¡¯t the end. I had a feeling that they would eventually return, but at least I had maybe a year until they would return. This would give me enough time to make a plan to make sure that no Zi would ever come back to this town.

    Qaton and I returned back to the Zi to discuss what would happen to the Zi.

    Even days after their departure from the village, its inhabitants still had a burning dislike for them. No one wanted to buy or sell anything from them, even their landlord had kicked them out in their mistrust of them.

    This meeting with the Yad was to figure out how to extend their absence for as long as possible. During said meeting, we told the Yad to spread the news that the Zi had burned down those buildings in their investigation because they believed that the owners were connected with illegal activities. The Yad also mentioned that he would communicate with the king to tell the Zi government to pause the investigation for a while, so they can fix the behavior of their task force.

    The Zi that they sent would deny this obviously, but there wasn¡¯t any evidence connecting the smuggling group or myself to the crime while they had the weight of the Yad¡¯s word against them. So, I had nothing to worry about on that front.

    With our business with the Yad finished, Qaton and I went back to the compound. Qaton and Darat had some things that they needed to discuss, since they hadn¡¯t talked since Darat had given Qaton his ultimatum.

    We found Darat working as if nothing else was wrong, but I could tell that he was conflicted. On the one hand, he should have felt relieved that the Zi were gone and weren¡¯t able to threaten the smuggling ring any longer. But on the other hand, his revenge was stolen from him and he wasn¡¯t able to avenge Halel.

    Darat made the first move, he asked Qaton what had happened. Qaton responded by explaining the whole plan to Darat, from our meeting with the Yad to their departure at the hands of the townspeople. When the plan was explained to him, he seemed slightly impressed. But that feeling was nothing compared to how apologetic he looked for his rash behavior.

    As they made up with one another, I thought it would be a good idea to take a walk around the village.

    I wouldn¡¯t want to pry into their relationship anymore than I already did.

    As I passed by the various burned buildings, I noticed how crestfallen their owners seemed to be. What they had lost in the fires could never be brought back, whether it was a merchant¡¯s stock of goods or a vendor¡¯s storefront.

    I reminded myself that while I was directly responsible for their misfortune, I couldn¡¯t let feelings of guilt consume me. A milder course of action wouldn¡¯t generate the same response and would fail to generate the ill will needed to make the Zi leave.

    ¡°Right?¡±

    I still wasn¡¯t sure of my decision, I had to ponder more deeply on it.

    After I grew tired of walking, I retreated back to the base. The meeting with the rest of the group would happen in a few more hours, so I passed the time by resuming my clerical work and refilling my supply of matches. When the time had finally come for the conference, Qaton beckoned me to join him in the meeting room.

    As Qaton explained what we had done to the rest of the smuggling ring, I received more and more curious looks for my part in the Zi¡¯s expulsion. His success seemed to have united the group in stark contrast to the previous meeting¡¯s chaos. So while he seemed to have almost all of the group¡¯s members on his side, Ishata and her supporters¡¯ dislike for me was apparent all throughout Qaton¡¯s speech.

    Due to the recent events, Qaton was able to finally make a resolution in regards to my status in the group. While I wasn¡¯t a full member yet, I was allowed to keep my post as the group¡¯s steward. In addition, I was also allowed to continue my matchmaking business and was to use it to spread the group¡¯s reach to other towns.

    If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    Now that the matter of my status was resolved, another matter was also called into attention. Apparently, some of the Alham trade was being disrupted by an unknown party. There were whispers of another gang trying to get some Alham for themselves. While the veracity of these claims were still unknown, it could spiral into a bigger threat if it was not taken care of quickly. This is the reason why some of the group¡¯s members were sent to various locations around Spania¡ª to investigate the source of these disturbances in the Alham trade.

    After the decision to investigate had been made, the meeting came to a close. I still had something I needed to discuss with Qaton alone. I called him into the warehouse and made sure that there was no one around.

    I wanted to ask for his opinion on whether I did the right thing. At that moment I had all kinds of justifications and excuses for why my action was necessary but the feeling of guilt I had from the destructive nature of the plan would not dissipate unless I confided in someone else.

    I asked Qaton very plainly, ¡°My actions were just?¡±

    This lacking kind of speech was typical of how I spoke to Qaton, so while it made it harder to communicate with others, he always managed to glean the meaning beneath my words.

    ¡°No choice, no other option,¡± he responded.

    While he purposely spoke simply in order to communicate with me properly, his feelings were still clearly expressed. The fact that Qaton also thought that my plan was the only option seemed to have eased my worries.

    With that issue settled, I was able to continue my regular routine in peace. I went to bed that night feeling satisfied with how the events of the past few days had turned out. While I was drifting off to sleep, I remembered something that I forgot about in the chaos of recent events.

    I forgot to look over those documents that I stole from the Zi.

    Before the fire in my testing facility broke out, I was investigating the base of the Zi. In that building, I happened upon some important-looking documents which I promptly stole. They still were on my desk at the storage room. Despite my urge to sleep, my curiosity got the better of me, so I got up from bed and made my way outside to the warehouse.

    The documents were right where I had placed them a few days ago, so I took them and inspected their contents thoroughly. In contrast to the papyrus sheets that the smuggling ring used, I held five pieces of animal-skin parchment in my hands.

    I tried to decipher their contents but my pitiful grasp of this world¡¯s language left me unable to do so. I was however able to tell that the first of the five pages was some sort of official order sent by an authority figure. The rest of the pages seemed enigmatic in their purpose, although they must have had some vital significance, otherwise they would not have been in the Zi¡¯s possession.

    Putting it off for another time, I went back to sleep and continued my regular routine the next day. While I hoped that the next few months would be peaceful enough to let me expand my business without disturbances, I knew that this probably wouldn¡¯t be the case.

    Although, I was sure that no matter what challenge would come my way, I would be ready.

    Zi

    A month later¡­

    ¡°We¡¯re running out of supplies, we might not make it to the next village at this rate.¡± my comrade warned.

    ¡°We¡¯ll see a caravan eventually, so stop complaining and get back to steering the wagon.¡± I ordered, my voice raised.

    With a defeated sigh, my subordinate resumed leading the cart on the dirt path. The rest of our group looked weakened by the heat, with the faint hope of a traveling merchant being the only thing keeping them from going insane.

    Why were we in this predicament, you ask?

    It was those scheming rats from the town of Murgi that did this to us.

    We were tasked by our king to investigate some Alham which seemed to be going missing on some trade routes. Apparently, our kingdom had gained permission to inspect this affair and sent us, elite soldiers from one of the kingdom¡¯s special Alham-coated regiment, to rectify this issue.

    After many months, we had finally tracked down the source of the disruptions to the northern coast of Spania. More specifically, a town which went by the name of Murgi. It was a rather quaint settlement, with only around two thousand residents living within its borders. The fact that it was a small village made them more suspicious of outsiders, which made its inhabitants quite hostile towards us.

    From the way the trade seemed to be diverted, it seemed like it was the responsibility of a smuggling ring which dealt with Alham rather than a single individual. Despite this, while investigating the town we happened upon a young man that seemed to be associated with the disturbances we were trying to look into.

    This happened when after we had heard a tip about mysterious men who came late at night with crates, we came to look into this info for ourselves. The merchants who had come to deliver the shipment, had unfortunately escaped. However, we managed to question one of the couriers and they told us the residence of one of their main contacts, a man who went by the name of Halel.

    We were certain that he had ties to the group we were investigating, so we examined his home and then eventually took him captive to extract information from him using his own language. He eventually escaped, and we had to kill him to make sure that his knowledge about how much we knew didn¡¯t spread to the smuggling ring.

    After that, we happened upon a person which would continue to vex us all throughout our inspection. He was a young man, no older than around sixteen or seventeen whose features looked vastly dissimilar from the townspeople. If I were to guess where he would be from, he probably was from the Far North. We first found him stealing some coin from one of the townspeople, and in an attempt to make ourselves seem more trustworthy to the village people, we took chase.

    When we eventually had him cornered, we suddenly found ourselves waking up with the boy nowhere in sight. To add insult to injury, rumors spread that we had murdered one of the townspeople and we were forced to wait until the heat had dissipated until we were able to investigate again.

    There was no way that the boy and the Alham smuggling ring weren''t linked. The town of Murgi was a normal, rural town that you could find anyway. One oddity is a feature, two is a pattern. So when we had heard about a meeting which involved a new ¡°match¡± business in addition to other established merchants, we knew it had to be either related to the boy or the Alham ring.

    When we were observing their meeting late at night, one of our men had seen a glimpse of the same foreigner and we could finally connect the business with the boy. The next day, we had heard rumors of a boy with the same description frequenting a certain property that we had searched previously. At this point, we were definitely sure that the youth was our main lead on the group we have been looking for.

    So to scare them and to cause panic within their ranks, we set fire to the house that the boy had been using with the same matches that he sold. Hopefully, by doing this, we would be able to finally find where they were located in their moment of weakness. But instead, they used that moment of chaos as an opportunity to cause more fear and panic by setting random buildings ablaze then blaming it on us.

    With the village¡¯s hate for us at an all-time high, we were forced out of our residence by our landlord and were denied the chance to buy any supplies from the angry merchants. So we were forced to leave the village, and base somewhere else temporarily.

    The final straw was when our government had ordered us to return back across the sea to receive punishment for the actions that we had been falsely accused of. We had no choice but to give up on the smugglers for now, since they forced our hand. We didn¡¯t even get a chance to fight back, for those deceptive rats had made sure that it was a one-sided battle.

    So after we departed from the town of Murgi, we made a promise to ourselves. We would come back to that wretched town, and when we did, the boy and the smuggling ring would pay for their crimes towards us.

 Special Chapter 11.5 - Nightmare

    I awoke in the middle of the night to a loud yell coming from outside the door to my room.

    As I walked towards the door, I noticed a strange crimson fluid seeping through the crack underneath the door.

    ¡°Is that¡­ blood?¡± I wondered.

    I then opened the door to find a pair of bodies outside. One was a large, burly man and the other one belonged to a man with a rather lean build.

    My hands began to shake and my heart raced as I made a startling realization.

    The dead men were my employers, Darat and Qaton.

    The people who had kept me alive all this time and gave me a job had been murdered.

    I tried to think of a way to help them, but I was interrupted by a high-pitched scream coming from somewhere else in the building.

    Against my better judgment, I decided to investigate the origin of the sound.

    I scoured every room, and all of them were filled with the corpses of people that I had recently seen alive.

    A literal massacre had occurred.

    Their cold, unmoving eyes made me feel a deep sense of uneasiness. I tried to pretend that they were just asleep, to calm myself down, but it did not help in the slightest. Still I persevered, carefully investigating every nook and cranny until I finally had found the culprits of this tragedy.

    The Zi.

    They were a group of six well-built men, all clad in sets of nigh impenetrable armor. They had come to this town to take out the people I was residing with, and they seemed to have accomplished that mission.

    Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

    They must have heard my footsteps, for their gaze turned in my direction. And being the person that I was,

    I booked it.

    I ran and ran until I had reached my room once again, all the while fearing for my life. I had encountered them before, and we hadn¡¯t had the most friendly of interactions. But now that they knew that I was associated with the people that they were hunting for, they were sure to want me dead.

    I barricaded the door behind me to make sure they couldn¡¯t get in the room, but the loud knocking noises I heard showed their intent. I rifled through my trunk, looking for anything that I could use to fend them off. I looked and looked and was beginning to give up hope until I found something that was finally useful. I laid my eyes on a small dagger, no larger than my palm, lying at the bottom of the chest.

    This would have to do.

    I grabbed the blade and removed the obstructions on the door, getting ready to place my knife in between one of the eye slits of the nearest man¡¯s armor and make a run for it. The door creaked open and I lunged with my blade not before stopping myself because of sheer confusion.

    The man who had opened the door wasn¡¯t one of the Zi, but in fact Qaton, the man who I was currently working for. He asked me what I was doing, and in return I asked him where the Zi were. He had a look of confusion, as he told me that he didn¡¯t know.

    After he warned me against doing such dangerous things with a knife and leaving, I was left to wonder ¡°What the hell is going on?¡±

    Was I in a dream?

    I was sure that I saw him dead alongside the rest of the group. But when I opened the door to see where their bodies were, I saw nothing. To test whether I was in a dream, I looked at my hands. If they were blurry or strangely shaped then I would know I was dreaming, and sure enough they had a hazy effect on them.

    So, this is a dream.

    I tried to snap myself out of it, but it was to no avail. I knew that I needed to find some end to this dream, so I devised a plan.

    I got a few matches, a jar of oil and the stone I needed to light them and wandered around town until I found an abandoned, wooden house which was far away from any other house. I poured the oil around the inside of the floor in order to prepare for the next moments.

    I had a feeling the Zi would find me here, and sure enough, I heard their footsteps outside.

    I lit a match hidden beside the door in anticipation of their entrance. And when they went in to investigate I ran outside, not before throwing a lit match inside the house and blocking the door with all my might. It was difficult to make sure that the six bulky men didn¡¯t escape, but their strength was being sapped by the flames that were engulfing them.

    While waiting for the fire to affect them, I could hear their blood-curdling screams as they were being cooked alive.

    I had to remember that this was a dream and wasn¡¯t real, but I was still affected by their deaths. After waiting for the noises to stop, I went inside to investigate the aftermath of what I had done. I tried to avoid the small residual fires which were scattered on the floor.

    I then saw two bodies which confused me, since the Zi were supposed to be six. I looked at their faces and I realized that they weren¡¯t the Zi at all, but the corpses of Darat and Qaton. In the midst of my confusion, their remains began to twist and turn as they began grabbing my arms.

    I tried to resist but I was overpowered, and they held me on one of the flames that still remained.

    I felt like I was about to die.

    Then finally, I woke up.

    I remembered nothing from the nightmare, but a single idea echoed in my mind.

    I need to do something about the Zi.

 Chapter 16 - Insurance

    ¡°There has been ****** concern about the danger of your matches recently.¡± said the Yad with a stern look on his face.

    Ever since the town experienced mass arson three months ago, there had been concerns as to the safety of my product¡ª matches. Which was in part, due to my actions in mass arson that was committed in the village. So, I was called to a meeting by the Yad alone to discuss this pertinent issue.

    ¡°It will pass.¡± I replied.

    Over the last three months, I had also learned how to communicate with other people who weren¡¯t Qaton. But unfortunately for me, I was still left with a foreign accent as well as being unable to understand some of what people said. In addition to that, I wasn¡¯t able to express my thoughts as clearly as I would like, so I wasn¡¯t about to deliver a speech any time soon.

    ¡°I could ***** you to stop selling matches, you know? I¡¯m just ****** a warning as a courtesy.¡±

    ¡°How would I solve that?¡±

    He shrugged and said ¡°That¡¯s for you to ****** out. ******** makes the townspeople happy.¡±

    ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll think about it.¡±

    After I said that, an sly idea seemed to have popped into his head. For he made an offer which was a trap in disguise.

    ¡°I think if you worked with me and made me more involved in your business, I could make this go away for you,¡± he said.

    This was an obvious ploy to try to figure out what the matches were made of, if I accepted his offer then there was little stopping him from sharing that information with people that would want to compete against me in the match-making space. While monopolies were usually bad for innovation, they were the only reason why my business was as successful as it was. Thus, I had to make sure that the knowledge of how to create matches did not spread uncontrolled and stayed with me.

    ¡°Thank you, but I think it''s better if I go at it alone.¡±

    ¡°If you insist, but the option is always open if you change your mind.¡± he said with an eerie grin.

    Quickly feeling unnerved by his words, I wrapped up our conversation then greeted my goodbyes.

    After we went our separate ways, I headed back to the compound that I had been living in for the last four months. It was a large building that contained the living quarters for around twenty people and housed a warehouse in which I resided. I went to my regular desk and found Piyan there, he was to update me on the status of the matchmaking business.

    Piyan was someone I employed from the smuggling group to be the face of the enterprise, so I paid him a weekly wage to staff a store that had been rented for the venture.

    He told me of the new visitors from foreign villages that had visited this town seeking matches. A few days after I had started matchsticks, I tasked Shur, my merchant contact, to make sure the news of the matches were spread to different villages all across the region of Spania. And sure enough, this resulted in more outsiders coming to visit the village of Murgi to buy what I had made.

    In addition to that, I also trade matches to other local merchants to increase my reach which also increases its demand. But all of this just exacerbated a problem which had been haunting me since the very beginning.

    I¡¯m just one person.

    There would reach a certain point where I would have to either tell my clients that I don¡¯t have enough matches or I would have to hire someone else. The problem with adding someone to the match manufacturing operation is that they would have to be entrusted with knowledge of how to create the special ingredient in my matches.

    The rest of what is needed to make matchsticks¡ª sulfur, charcoal, wooden sticks, were things that were readily available in this world. But potassium nitrate is something that only I knew how to make in this world, seeing as I have seen no evidence to point to the contrary. Even if someone knew that I had been purchasing horse excrement to use to make matches, they wouldn¡¯t know how to synthesize the substance with it.

    If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    So if I had to reveal my plans to someone else, that knowledge would have to include potassium nitrate.

    ¡°Maybe if I just had them do everything except the potassium nitrate?¡± I thought.

    Upon further examination, that probably wouldn¡¯t work. This was because I used the same setup for both the match manufacturing and the making of the nitrate. So if I wanted to keep it a secret then I would have to do it somewhere else and I really couldn¡¯t think of another private place to do it since the experimentation house burned down.

    I tried wracking my brain for a few more minutes until I had decided that the effort wasn¡¯t worth it for now. This was something that could be put off for later, since it wasn¡¯t too time sensitive.

    I finally continued with my usual tasks, which was making a tally of all the income and expenses that had occurred over the last week. It was a position that required a lot of trust, because if I was a bad actor, I essentially had the ability to leak vital info pertinent to their inner workings. But since I couldn¡¯t understand their language at the time and was relatively competent in mathematics, they saw it fit to give me the role.

    The thing that they failed to consider was that I would come to learn more of their language. And after being taught by Qaton and recognizing patterns in their documents, I was able to acquire a deeper understanding of the group¡¯s situation.

    For instance, I noticed that recently their income has been going down. I didn¡¯t know why at first, but I soon remembered that it probably had something to do with the recent Alham supply chain disruptions.

    From what I could tell, the smuggling ring had connections in many towns all across Spania. This was so that they could illegally import Alham to export and in doing so make a profit. I wasn¡¯t sure who they exported the Alham to, for I was kept out of the loop, but I knew they must have been wealthy based on the amount of gold coins that the group had at their disposal.

    Anyway, as said in a previous meeting, some entity was messing with their trade routes to acquire Alham from themselves. Meaning that they either bribed the contacts illegally or they quietly stole Alham under the nose of the merchants that the smuggling ring worked with.

    Either way, this caused red flags amongst the members of the group. So, they made a commitment to find out who was behind the discrepancies. I could tell that they intended to make good on their word because I also saw a rise in operating expenses which included transportation fare as well as various traveling supplies.

    Based on how I had not heard any chatter about whether the culprits were found or not, I assumed that they had not yet been located. If they were to be found, I would probably know based on the energy of the compound.

    An hour later¡­

    After I finally managed to compile the results of the various documents that I had access to, I had nothing but time. I figured that this was just as good a time as any to start figuring out how to solve the problem that the Yad tasked me with.

    I needed to think of a solution to how to prevent the matches from becoming seen as a severe safety risk to the village.

    To answer this problem, I needed to ask a more fundamental question.

    In my old world, why wasn¡¯t arson a more common occurrence?

    Well for one thing, most places weren¡¯t as dry as this village. I was only able to light buildings as easily as I did because of the noticeable lack of humidity. Secondly, there were security cameras literally everywhere on Earth, so any culprit was likely to be apprehended.

    Unfortunately for me, these things could not be changed in this new world for I had no control of either the humidity or level of technology that this world had.

    I needed a better question to ask, like ¡°Why don¡¯t people in my old world fear arson as much as this town?¡±

    Well for one, there were services to prevent fires from reaching the extent they did in the town. Fire-fighters were one such example, they were specifically tasked to solve situations such as these. More often than not, flames didn¡¯t spread as far or grow as large as they did here because of the work that they did.

    Another reason that I could mention is the institution of insurance companies also alleviated the people¡¯s fear. In my old world, insurance plans were made to protect the clients and make sure that they are compensated in case of an incident. In exchange for their protection, they pay a sum of money to the company to purchase said insurance. This was possibly another reason why people on Earth didn¡¯t constantly live in fear of arson.

    This gave me an idea.

    While I couldn¡¯t do much about the general aridness and lack of security cameras the village suffered from. I could have implemented things such as fire-fighters and insurance. After saving some currency that came from the matchmaking business, I found myself with a lofty sum of fifteen gold coins.

    While it wasn¡¯t much compared to the wealth of the Yad or what the smuggling group made, it was more than what the average laborer would earn in an entire year. Thus, these funds could be used to create and establish fire-fighters and insurance in the town.

    It would work by getting a small sum of cash from each household that signs up, then offering them compensation in the unlikely event that any of their properties burn down. In that case, monetary contributions would go to them in order to allow them to pay for the construction.

    How the fire-fighters would fit into this, is that they paid to limit the damages of the insurance owners and be ready for action at any time day or night. I would have to use some of my funds to create a sort of area for them to be stationed in and materials like buckets, ladders and axes would also be necessary. Hiring and training qualified personnel was another of those things that required funds and effort.

    While these actions benefited the community, I couldn¡¯t say that I didn¡¯t see the irony in this situation. What would you think if you heard of a matchmaker selling fire insurance, except that they were a callous profiteer. This kind of rubbed me the wrong way since I was profiting off of fear that I created three months ago, but if it relieved the fears and anxiety of the townsfolk then I had to do it.

    Well the fears over the matches kind of lowered the demand in this village, so maybe I really was a callous profiteer.

    But this was also why I couldn¡¯t have anyone know of my connection to the potential insurance business outside of maybe Shur and anyone inside the smuggling group. While the Yad had been nothing but gracious to me, I couldn¡¯t risk him getting a piece of info that he could potentially blackmail me with. If I was outed for being behind both an insurance company and a matchmaking business, I knew that nothing good would happen as a result.

    So I decided to contact Shur privately, in order to see what I could do with my fifteen gold pieces.

 Chapter 17 - Rumination

    After I decided to contact Shur, I asked for Qaton to come and call him to the compound.

    Then arrived a man whose skin was as dark as he was tall, his build would probably lead one to conclude that he worked in a job that required little manual labor. Anyone who made that assumption would be correct because he was a prominent merchant in this town who had ties to the smuggling ring that I worked with.

    He was currently helping me with spreading the sale of my matches, and I was meeting him again to discuss another venture that I was spearheading.

    I grabbed a nearby chair I found in the warehouse and asked him to take a seat, for I had much to discuss with him.

    ¡°What¡¯s this about?¡± he asked, curious.

    ¡°You know how the village currently feels about my matches, right?¡±

    ¡°Yes, I¡¯ve noticed that the merchants that we ********* to have been more **** about buying new ***** recently.¡± he said, somewhat downtrodden.

    ¡°Well, I might have a solution which I need your help to implement.¡±

    Upon the mention of a fix to our current predicament, he leaned forward and seemed more eager to hear what I had to say.

    ¡°Really? Do tell.¡± he said, with an intrigued look.

    I explained to him how my business would operate, as mentioned previously it would have two parts.

    A firefighting aspect and an insurance aspect.

    People who bought the insurance would have the protection of the fire-fighting service, and if that failed they would be recompensed for any damages. However, I was also open to the idea that I could lend the fire service to the Yad, in exchange for a monthly payment.

    Upon hearing all about what I had to say, the only thing he had to say in response was,

    ¡°That¡¯s quite a novel idea, I don¡¯t think I¡¯ve seen something like it before.¡±

    ¡°I know.¡± I said in response, ¡°but how has it not been thought of before?¡±

    He seemed confused by what I had mentioned, but eventually he said,

    ¡°Well fires were probably too **** to start until now, so any houses that were burned down were ******* an unfortunate but unlikely ******** until the invention of your matches.¡±

    Satisfied by that response, I began to start asking more important questions.

    ¡°Do you think this business idea is actually viable?¡±

    ¡°It seems sound enough, and with the added factor of the general uneasiness about arson lingering in the down, it has a good chance of succeeding.¡±

    When he spoke, I noticed a dangerous look in his eye that didn¡¯t seem to be there before. At first I thought that he was just a shrewd merchant, but I realized he was much more than that.

    I picked up on the fact that he seemed to blatantly ignore the dangers before jumping into a new business idea, not unlike a gambler at a casino.

    It probably should have been obvious given the fact that they agreed to help a foreigner with no track-record start a new business for a never before seen product. No person of sound mind would willingly join in something which showed no clear indication of its success. The only reason that Darat gave me funds in the first place was due to his desperation to rid the village of the Zi at any cost.

    Shur didn¡¯t even need any extraneous circumstances to take action, but his nature was what made him join my side. Up until now this didn¡¯t seem to have done anything negative to him, but it seemed like he would eventually run into a stroke of misfortune.

    However I couldn¡¯t turn back now, so I continued to entice Shur by offering him adequate compensation for his help.

    ¡°I¡¯ll give you five gold to start, so you have some incentive to begin helping me. But I have a question I need to ask you, how many households are there to sell to?

    This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    ¡°I think there¡¯s around three hundred forty households give or ****, with each having around five to six *******.¡± he responded.

    ¡°Two silvers are good enough for each family?¡±

    ¡°Well you have to consider that the ******* household earns maybe two to three coins, so that would be around thirteen percent of a family¡¯s ******* income. So that might limit your reach to maybe two hundred to two hundred twenty ******** willing to pay for it.

    After taking some time to do some mental math, I said, ¡°That would be forty golds. So if we remove fifteen to twenty golds for salaries and equipment, thirty gold would be left.¡±

    He seemed a bit unconvinced by my figures, saying ¡°That¡¯s probably a bit on the high side, since it will take time to ******** all those households to spend a decent ****** of their funds on something foreign to them.¡±

    Seeing that he didn¡¯t find my numbers realistic, I revised them a bit.

    ¡°Alright.¡± I revised. ¡°So we can probably expect maybe thirty golds in the first month, if word spreads quickly and people take to the idea¡±

    He gave it some thought and finally said, ¡°That seems more realistic.¡±

    After we decided on the basic numbers of the operation, I gave him his first task.

    ¡°I think I might need you to find someone to be the face of the insurance business. Someone who won¡¯t just run off with whatever cash they have at hand. Maybe they can also be tasked to manage the fire-fighters as well.¡±

    ¡°I think that can be arranged, how much are you ******* to pay them?¡±

    ¡°I think a commission would be best, but if they worked hard they would earn around ten percent of how much they sell in insurance. So around two to three golds a month is what I would expect to pay them.¡±

    Since I didn¡¯t know the word for commission in his language, I decided to replace it with a word from English in the hopes that he would understand the meaning.

    ¡°I think I understand based on its context, but can you clarify what the word ¡°commission¡± means?¡± he asked, his head slightly tilted.

    ¡°It¡¯s where you sell something for someone, and get paid based on a percentage of what you manage to sell.¡±

    ¡°I see. I¡¯ll get back to you on that person you want, I¡¯ll see if I can find someone appropriate.¡±

    With our meeting over, he began to stand up when he began to say something that he had forgotten to say.

    ¡°Wait a moment.¡± he said with a confused look, ¡°Did you think about a location for the insurance company and the firefighting, it would be very short-sighted of you if you didn¡¯t.¡±

    If I were a bit less meticulous in my planning, I probably would not have been prepared for this question. Luckily though, I had an idea of where I was going to have the insurance company operate from.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry.¡± I said with an assured grin, ¡°I have someplace fitting in mind.¡±

    It was somewhere that I was very familiar with, and I planned to meet with Darat to see if I could use it.

    Thirty minutes later¡­

    After waiting a few minutes after Shur left, I finally found an opportune time to speak with Darat. He had finished with his work in the warehouse, and had decided to take a short break before going to another part of the compound.

    I found him sitting on a bench at the back of the warehouse and tried to sit beside him as ordinarily as possible.

    ¡°Good afternoon, Darat.¡±

    ¡°Hamet.¡± he greeted, with a nod of his head.

    I wasn¡¯t in the mood for small talk, so I decided to ditch subtlety and get straight to the point.

    "I have a question. Who exactly owns that house I used to use¡­ before it burned down?"

    Darat¡¯s face darkened as he heard the words that emerged from my lips, it seemed to bring out some unpleasant memories.

    ¡°That would be Halel, the corpse that you saw that one time.¡± he said, solemnly.

    Mentioning something related to Halel was definitely a mistake, but it actually made the previous events make more sense. The Zi were able to find me in that house because they were aware of Halel¡¯s connection to it previously. But I could tell that this was a sensitive topic for Darat based on how he acted last time.

    ¡°Ah, anyway who owns it now?¡± I asked, trying to steer the topic away from Halel.

    ¡°Well no one, since he didn''t have any remaining relatives in this village,¡± he responded.

    This kind of surprised me, I thought that he would have at least had some relatives. Maybe a cousin or an uncle of some sort. But I overcame my initial shock to ask him what I really wanted to know.

    ¡°So, do you think I could reconstruct it for something I¡¯m planning to do?¡±

    He thought for a while and eventually he gave a response.

    ¡°I mean sure, if the Yad doesn¡¯t make a fuss that is.¡±

    This confused me at first, for I didn¡¯t know why the Yad had any involvement in this issue.

    ¡°Why would he do that?¡±

    ¡°Well legally, all lands that don''t have a direct successor should go towards the village administration. The same village administration that is headed by the Yad.¡±

    Now that he pointed out the reasoning for his statement, it seemed a bit obvious in hindsight. Even in my old world, deceased without kin would often have their possessions and properties taken by the governing body. But now that I was aware of this issue, I thought that I could probably convince the Yad to let me use the land.

    ¡°I¡¯ll deal with him if he makes a fuss. So how much do you think it would cost to make a sort of medium sized all-purpose building out of the old ruins of the fire?¡±

    ¡°Well for a building of around that size, it would maybe cost around three gold.¡±

    While this was a lot considering the average person earned one gold every month, I had enough to afford it.

    ¡°Who would I need to talk to for that?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Well the masons don¡¯t really need to get involved since the stone foundation wasn¡¯t probably damaged by the fire. So I would recommend getting in touch with the carpenters guild to see what they can do for you.¡±

    I was a bit taken by this, since I subconsciously assumed that there was some kind of construction company that would take care of this. But I should have realized that for this level of technology, this was to be expected.

    ¡°Where are they?¡±

    He then proceeded to give me instructions on how to get to them, which I then noted down mentally. So now I was sure that I would be able to navigate my way to them.

    ¡°Alright, thank you.¡± I said, beginning to wrap up the conversation.

    He seemed a bit curious as to what I was about to do with the old lot, for he said ¡°Not so fast, what do you want to do with the lot anyway?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m planning on doing something to quell the village¡¯s unease with the matches I¡¯m selling.¡± I replied.

    Even though my response left a lot to be desired, he seemed to be satisfied with it, however vague it was.

    ¡°Well good luck with that, just don¡¯t make any more trouble for us. We don¡¯t want a repeat of what happened last time with the Zi.¡±

    His final words rang true in my mind, for I vividly recalled what happened the last time that trouble knocked on our doorstep.

    ¡°I¡¯ll make sure that doesn''t happen.¡±

    As I said these words, I began to leave in search of the carpenters'' guild.

    My fervent hope was that they''d be helpful in achieving my goal because othewise, I''d be screwed.

 Chapter 18 - Reconstruction

    After Darat had given me the directions I needed, I headed straight for the carpenters guild.

    What business did I have there, you ask?

    Well due to the recent unease caused by my matches, I elected to find a solution to bring things back to normal. So I thought up an idea wherein I would create an insurance company and fire-fighting service. I was there to find someone who could create a building wherein I could begin the operations.

    I wasn¡¯t sure if I was in the right place, since I didn¡¯t see any obvious signs that it was a carpenters guild so I tried asking someone nearby whether this was where I was supposed to be.

    I asked a nearby woman, ¡°Am I in the carpenters guild?¡±

    ¡°What?¡± she said, with a confused expression.

    In order to make sure I was understood, I simplified my question.

    ¡°Where carpenters?¡±

    She seemed to have understood my question because she pointed to an adjacent building close to where I was standing. I thanked her and began walking in the direction of a somewhat large two-story building that had words unknown to me posted in front.

    ¡°Oh, those words must mean carpenters guild.¡± I thought.

    As I was walking toward the structure, a question began to form in my mind.

    Why didn¡¯t she understand me the first time?

    I was very sure that if I said that to Darat or Qaton, they would understand me perfectly. So I didn¡¯t know why she would have a hard time understanding me. I pondered this mystery for a few seconds until a realization hit me like a truck.

    I¡¯ve been too used to speaking with people I already know.

    Ever since I arrived from this world, I only had conversations with people that I already knew or had Qaton translate for me. This probably meant that they were used to how I spoke, and could understand me more easily. However this could not be said for other people, who would have a hard time comprehending my words due to my foreign accent.

    In the future I would have to make sure that I spoke as clearly as I could, and try to speak with people other than the ones that I frequently talked with. In addition, getting rid of that cursed accent would be vitally important.

    With that concern dealt with, I was finally ready to enter the carpenter¡¯s guild.

    I arrived in a room bustling with men hard at work, making all sorts of furniture, tools and various additions to a house like stairs, flooring and other fixtures. When I arrived through the front door, I felt some brief stares going in my direction.

    I feared that they might have recognized me from my brief exposure during my entrance in this world. However I put that fear to rest when I realized that I was just being a bit paranoid and they probably were just taking a glance in my direction. Most of the attention that I got when I appeared in this world was due to my then strange attire but now that I wore normal clothing, the only thing that might be different would be my facial features.

    Sure enough, the attention subsided as they went back to their duties. It seemed like I wasn¡¯t special enough to cause any alarm, so I calmed down and walked towards the nearest worker that seemed free.

    ¡°Who can I talk to for business?¡± I said, as clearly as I could.

    He replied with a patronizing smile, ¡°Are *** **** you ***** lost?¡±

    It was probably due to his somewhat lower class way of speaking, but he was really difficult to understand. Qaton, Darat and everyone else I met had talked one way but this man spoke in another way. Though I still could understand a bit of what he was talking about, it wasn¡¯t exactly flattering.

    My accent probably made him think I was some sort of naive adolescent who had wandered away from their foreign merchant parents based on my strange diction and looks. In fact it was probably strange that I wasn¡¯t talked down to by the people I¡¯ve met based on my looks, but they probably knew that I wasn¡¯t as clueless as I seemed.

    ¡°No I am not.¡± I confirmed.

    ¡°Alright¡­ well if you want to ***** with our ****** Az, he¡¯s *** ******** *** in the corner.¡±

    This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

    ¡°Thank you.¡± I replied.

    As I walked towards the corner he described, my eyes bounced from person to person until I eventually found who he was referring to. He was a somewhat elderly man whose hair was beginning to whiten, but in stark contrast had the build of someone thirty years his junior. He gave off a rough kind of vibe not unlike Darat, but he seemed less intense in his old age.

    He seemed to be having a somewhat light conversation with his fellow carpenters, for he was laughing about something when I approached him. I tried to get his attention, but he ignored me to instead continue talking with the other men. With no other choice, I got in front of him and made sure that I was heard.

    ¡°Good afternoon, Az. I have something that I need to discuss with you, privately.¡±

    ¡°Get lost kid, **** you see **** *** in the middle of something.¡± he complained.

    He clearly didn¡¯t want to be bothered, but I thought I knew something that would sway him.

    I got close to his ear and whispered, ¡°I need your help with something the Zi tasked me with.¡±

    This confused him but he seemed otherwise dubious of my claim, so I then proceeded to privately show him the gold coins that I had in my possession to show that I was serious. His expression quickly changed from one of annoyance to a concerned look.

    He told his companions that he had to take care of something, then proceeded to take me aside to a separate room where it was just us two.

    I started by saying, ¡°So, I need a certain house rebuilt. How much would it cost?¡± as clearly as I could.

    ¡°Where is the property that you¡¯re talking *****?¡± he asked.

    I was positively surprised that he began talking in a way that I could understand better, maybe he switched how he talked when he was with potential clients. Nevertheless, I was grateful for his effort.

    I described the location and how it used to look, before it burned down.

    ¡°Ah, that old house. If I recall, it was the first to be burned by those foreigners ****** they went and *********** arson throughout the ***** town.¡±

    ¡°Yes, that''s right. It was.¡±

    ¡°We got many requests like that after the fires,¡± he said, wistfully.

    However in a sudden change, his expression morphed from into one of a suspicious wariness as he tried to figure out why I was unfamiliar to him.

    ¡°Where¡¯d you even come from anyway? I haven¡¯t seen you around town before.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m a distant relative of the previous owner, and I need to restore it so I can do something the Yad asked.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t look like you¡¯re from around these parts, or Spania at all.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m a very, very distant relative.¡± I said, evasively.

    ¡°Right... and what task did the Yad assign you?¡±

    With no excuse coming to mind, I said ¡°It¡¯s a secret.¡±

    I could tell by his wrinkled brow and narrowed eyes that he wasn''t particularly thrilled by this response, but seemed to have given up on trying to get information out of me at least.

    The carpenter sighed heavily, ¡°Alright, I won¡¯t pry.¡±

    ¡°So do you want it to be another residential house like before?¡± he asked.

    ¡°Not really, I need something a bit more¡­ unconventional.¡± I replied.

    ¡°What do you mean?¡±

    ¡°Well¡­ I need a sort of open floor plan that can have ten people within it, with maybe a separate office for administrative tasks. In addition I¡¯d also like somewhere where I can place miscellaneous equipment that I might need for something separate.¡±

    I saw a shifty look in his eyes, like he was wondering whether to try to take advantage of some youth that seemed to be way in over his head.

    ¡°This is all so that I can achieve the task given to me by the Yad. So if it were to fail for one reason or another, I don¡¯t think he would be pleased.¡± I said, with a fake smile.

    My reminder of the Yad''s involvement thankfully knocked any unproductive thoughts out of his mind and he finally began taking me seriously. After a moment of thought, he gave his estimation of what the build would cost.

    ¡°I get it, I get it. It will cost around three golds and will take four months.¡±

    ¡°You sure it can¡¯t be any faster?¡± I asked.

    ¡°We still are busy working on the other ********* that were burned in the fire. So, we can¡¯t put too many resources ******* your property just yet.¡± he admitted.

    I couldn¡¯t wait four months, by that time the townspeople would probably do something to stop my matchmaking business. So I needed to make sure that it was done as soon as possible in order to start the fire-fighter service quickly.

    I placed six gold on the table instead of the three he mentioned and said, ¡°The Yad will be pleased when I accomplish my task. When that happens, I think I¡¯ll be mentioning how you and your guild helped.¡±

    When I said that and showed him the extra cash I was willing to contribute, his demeanor changed and he seemed more willing to comply with my somewhat difficult demands.

    ¡°Now that I think about it, I think it can be done in maybe two months if we give it extra attention. We wouldn¡¯t want to keep the Yad waiting after all.¡±

    So he took out his hand and finally said, ¡°Thank you for your business.¡±

    I shook his hand in turn and placed the six gold coins while doing so.

    After we said our goodbyes, I left to go back towards the compound. I had some residual fears that they might not commit to their agreement after all, but I trusted them to stick to their word.

    The next day¡­

    The next morning I was alerted to the fact that Shur apparently wanted to meet with me. I sat him down in the same spot and asked him for an update.

    ¡°You found someone already? That was fast.¡± I thought out loud.

    ¡°Well I didn¡¯t have much going on yesterday, so I was able to concentrate solely on finding someone suitable for the business.¡± Shur admitted.

    ¡°Well did you?¡± I asked.

    ¡°I think he¡¯ll be a perfect fit for the role.¡± he said, confident of his choice.

    ¡°Describe him for me, or is it a she?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a he¡­. obviously, and his name is Hasbel. He¡¯s the fifth son of the local merchant family but being the youngest of the children, he wasn¡¯t going to inherit the family business. He¡¯s helped me for some errands for some time now, and I thought that he would be the perfect person to manage the insurance company.¡±

    Aside from showing the fact that he was a bit sexist, his description also made me feel like he had a personal connection to this Hasbel. Based on what I knew of Shur so far, it seemed like I could trust this man by proxy. Although Shur did have a habit for risky behavior, it didn¡¯t seem to bite him in the ass yet.

    But there was still something I needed to ask about his contact.

    ¡°Do you think he can keep a secret?¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s worked with me on some of my ventures on and off for around five years now. You can trust him.¡±

    Well I didn¡¯t have much choice, but I took his word for Hasbel¡¯s character¡­ for now.

    ¡°Alright¡­ where do I meet him?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Follow me.¡± while gesturing for me to leave with him.

    I hoped that by the end of this outing, I could find someone I could trust.

    However, whether that would come to pass still remained to be seen.

 Chapter 19 - Hasbel

    ¡°You don¡¯t speak normally, do you? Where are you from?¡± asked the boy in front of me.

    In an attempt to quell the recent fears about the destructive capacity of my matches, I started making plans for a new business. Part of that included hiring someone to be the face of the operation, selling insurance as well as managing the fire-fighting operation that would come with it. Shur apparently had found the perfect candidate for me to hire, though I went to his home to meet him for myself.

    He had a rather mediterranean complexion like most of the people I¡¯ve met in this world, but it had some slight differences that made it seem like he was from somewhere else. I wasn¡¯t able to pin down where exactly due to my lack of knowledge regarding geography in this world, but I could tell that he was somewhat of an outsider.

    Due to his status as a son of a prominent local merchant, he lived in a home that was quite expansive, signaling the influence that his father held. Unfortunately due to him being born as the fifth son in the family, he was unlikely to be left any significant inheritance from his father. However, the education that he was provided as the son of a merchant could prove useful to me if I decided to put him in charge of the business.

    The youth in front of me named Hasbel seemed like he was the same age as me, but due to our different backgrounds there was a stark contrast in the way we spoke. I spoke more formally due to that being what I was taught, while he spoke the way any teenager his age would.

    ¡°That¡¯s not important.¡± I replied, ¡°What¡¯s your background?¡±

    While I already knew that he was one of the children of a burgher, I still wanted to have him speak for himself just in case any of what Shur said was wrong.

    ¡°Well my dad is a wealthy merchant, as you know, who deals in masonry primarily. He came from Qarqadim with my mother, and settled down here. He has five sons and two daughters, and because I¡¯m the youngest of them, there aren¡¯t many opportunities for me to take over the business. So my father introduced me to Shur who was a trading partner with him at the time, and I worked many jobs for him until now. Just yesterday, he told me of a brand new business that I was perfect for and now I¡¯m meeting you.¡±

    ¡°Was that good enough for you?¡± he said, a bit annoyed.

    I somehow managed to understand all of what he said, in contrast to when I talked to most adults. Maybe it was the fact that he didn¡¯t speak as formally or as quickly as they did, but either way it was a welcome change.

    ¡°That¡¯s fine but what does Qarqadim mean?¡± I asked.

    ¡°You don¡¯t know the greatest city in the world? Have you been living under a rock?¡± he said, shocked that I wasn¡¯t aware of that term.

    ¡°Nevermind that. Let¡¯s talk about something else.¡± I said with a sigh.

    I would have to ask Qaton about that later. As mentioned previously, I wasn¡¯t really good with geography in this new world since I had yet to see a map, so I was a bit lacking in that department.

    ¡°Why did you agree to meet with me?¡±

    ¡°Well I¡¯ve been kind of curious as to who the genius behind the matches was, so if I work with enough merchants I¡¯ll eventually find him and can learn from him,¡± he said.

    His praise of my business would almost make me blush if it wasn¡¯t for how irreverent he was. I was almost tempted to reveal that I made the matches, right then and there. But it wasn¡¯t really wise to be revealing these things to someone that I hadn¡¯t gotten to know yet. I was imagining what would happen if I did that until I was interrupted by his complaining.

    ¡°Hello? When are we starting the interview?¡± he said while tapping his foot impatiently.

    ¡°Right. Sorry.¡± I said, now focusing solely on him.

    This time I was more able to determine the abilities of the one I hired since I was able to actually speak with them and decide on whether they were a good fit. Last time that Qaton referred me to Piyan, he was basically my only option and I just chose him since I thought that he would be a good fit. Thankfully Qaton was right and it worked out, but this time I was able to interview candidates for myself and can afford to reject them if I didn¡¯t think they¡¯d do well.

    ¡°So what special skills can you bring to the table?¡± I asked him.

    At the moment I said that, I found it a bit funny how much I sounded like the stereotypical interviewer at a company. Not that I had even been interviewed or had a job in my old world, but these things just get ingrained in the public consciousness via cultural osmosis.

    ¡°Well I¡¯m pretty good at dealing with people.¡± he said, ¡°So if the job needs something like that I¡¯ve got it covered. I was also taught basic merchant skills like arithmetic and such, but I hate clerical work. I refuse to do any of that ¡°

    He seemed like he had the skills to do what I wanted but his dislike of stewardship would be something to keep in mind. It didn¡¯t affect my opinion of him though since I was perfectly content with doing it all myself. Even if he seemed competent enough for the job, I still needed to get a better grasp of his temperament.

    ¡°Why did he teach you those skills?¡± I asked.

    I asked this question not because I was genuinely curious as to the motives of his father, but rather because I wanted to see more of his personality.You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

    ¡°Well he didn¡¯t want me to starve obviously, so I guess he had a tutor for me so I¡¯d be able to make a living on my own. In a way, I¡¯m kind of grateful for him since he wasn¡¯t required to do any of that and could have just married me off to some other family without the skills to do well.¡±

    ¡°I see.¡±

    I noticed that he seemed to have an appreciation for what his father gave him, indicating that he wasn¡¯t exactly a spoiled brat and could be a reliable worker. I think it was about time that I started explaining what I wanted him to do but before I could do that, he started trying to reverse the questions back to my direction.

    ¡°I¡¯ve answered a lot of your questions, so let me ask a few of my own so I can know more about my potential employer,¡± he said.

    ¡°Fair enough.¡± I nodded.

    ¡°Alright, what¡¯s your name?¡±

    ¡°Shur didn¡¯t tell you?¡± I asked, confused.

    He shook his head, ¡°No, he did not.¡±

    ¡°Alright I understand, my name is Hamet.¡± I admitted.

    ¡°Also, how is this business of yours going to work?¡±

    I was fortunate that he mentioned one of the things I was about to talk about. So, I explained to him how the fire-fighter and insurance company would work and what role he would play in it. While I was discussing the ins and outs of how the operation would work, he seemed enthralled by what I had to say. His attention was laser-focused on me this time, in contrast to his more relaxed attitude earlier.

    ¡°So do you think you can convince people to buy insurance and train the fire-fighters on what to do?¡± I asked.

    He thought for a moment, ¡°Yeah probably, but why would you even do something like this?¡±

    ¡°Well it¡¯s profitable. And since the Yad has been talking about how the fear of matches has been an issue, I decided that it would be a good idea to capitalize on it.¡±

    I decided to hide my involvement with the matchmaking business and make up some partly-true reason as to why I was doing it.

    ¡°How did you know that the Yad has been talking about these things?¡± he asked, skeptically.

    ¡°He had a meeting with those affected by the recent fires, and since I was a relative of someone who owned one such property, I was able to hear it straight from him.¡±

    This was a complete lie. I just hoped that he wasn¡¯t able or didn¡¯t have the motivation to check this for himself.

    But he seemingly was convinced by my excuse, saying ¡°That makes sense, the fires really made people scared of those match thingies huh?¡±

    I laughed, ¡°That¡¯s true, those match thingies really are scary apparently.¡±

    We both laughed for a moment, that was until I said something which immediately killed the mood.

    ¡°So what do you think of your pay?¡± I asked innocently.

    His eyes narrowed and he assumed a less relaxed demeanor, like he became a completely different person.

    ¡°He is weirdly serious about these things.¡± I thought.

    Working all those jobs probably taught him the importance of a fair wage, and thus he seemed like he wanted to make sure that he was paid fairly for his efforts.

    ¡°How will you pay me?¡±

    ¡°I was thinking of a commission* system.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s that word? Something from where you come from?¡±

    ¡°Yes, something along those lines. It means that you get a cut of each insurance plan of insurance you sell.¡±

    ¡°Oh, a commission* system. Why didn¡¯t you just say that?¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t know that word, I¡¯ll remember it.¡±

    Apparently this world had a term for it already, so I made sure that I internalized this word for later use.

    ¡°So will I be paid according to your commission system?¡± he asked.

    ¡°Well you will be paid a percentage of what you sell in insurance, so if you sell forty golds worth of insurance you will get a fraction of it. Also when I get men for you to train, we¡¯ll work out the details of your payment when we get to that.¡±

    ¡°So what percentage do you think you¡¯re capable of giving me?¡±

    ¡°Well¡­ with the material cost of constructing the place where you will work, and the maximum of ten gold payments that I will promise to anyone who gets their house burned down, I think I can give you a six percent commission rate.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s a really low percentage.¡± he scoffed, ¡°At least make it fifteen.¡±

    ¡°Maybe I can do eight.¡±

    ¡°Twelve.¡±

    ¡°Ten.¡± he offered.

    I thought for a moment, and it seemed reasonable enough. So I shook his hand and finally hired him with a ten percent commission rate.

    Of course, I lowballed him with the six percent but it was because I wanted to get him to ten percent. Since that was how much I discussed with Shur and I didn¡¯t see any need to change it anymore. But being a merchant¡¯s son, he probably caught on to the fact that I wanted it to be ten percent and allowed it.

    I asked him one last question before we ended our meeting,

    ¡°How did you even learn about me anyway?¡±

    I expected him to answer by referring to Shur, but he surprisingly seemed at a loss for words. He looked like someone who had been caught committing a crime until he had finally managed to tell me that Shur had told him about my business. I found his reaction a bit strange, but I ultimately shrugged it off.

    If he was to be my employee, I would eventually have to get used to his odd behaviors.

    He looked outside the window and was shocked by the time. The sun had begun to set, and he began to quickly hurry to the door. He seemed to be in quite a rush, but I just let him leave without any questioning.

    ¡°What¡¯s he in such a hurry for?¡± I idly wondered.

    Hasbel

    Ten minutes later¡­

    I found him in the same alleyway I always did, but I was a bit later than usual.

    ¡°You¡¯re late.¡± the cloaked man said.

    ¡°Yeah sorry, the boy took up a lot of my time.¡± I said, ¡°It took longer than expected.¡±

    ¡°So what did you think of him?¡± he asked.

    ¡°He might be the one that is making the matches, as you¡¯ve said sir.¡±

    ¡°Well we confirmed that Shur wasn¡¯t the one behind it, so he¡¯s the most likely option.¡±

    ¡°Have you found out anything about him yet?¡±

    ¡°Not yet sir. But I got a job as his employee which will allow me to keep a closer eye on him.¡±

    ¡°How did you even manage to make that happen?¡± he asked, impressed.

    ¡°It was pretty easy. After you told me that the matchmaker was connected with Shur, I planted the idea that I was in search of a job to Shur, who I had known previously. That allowed me to get a meeting with the boy and convince him to hire me.¡±

    ¡°We have reason to believe that the matchmaking business is also connected to the rival smuggling ring that¡¯s monopolizing the alham trade that Ader wants. So keep me updated, Ader will reward you generously if someone comes of this. So find out as much as you can from your employer and we¡¯ll deal with the rest.¡±

    ¡°Yes sir.¡±

    As he walked away, I recalled how I first met him.

    After working on some jobs that required me to go to other different towns, I was headhunted by a mysterious group that wanted me to do some odd jobs for them. Because they promised to pay handsomely, I accepted and was now tasked to gather more information about a boy that they were interested in.

    ¡°I wonder¡­ is he truly who they¡¯re looking for?¡± I asked myself.

 Chapter 20 - Geography

    The day before that chilly morning, I met with a quite peculiar boy.

    While the same could be said for myself, I wasn¡¯t exactly sure why he struck me as odd. He had a normal upbringing, a normal appearance and a normal personality but something felt off about him. Nonetheless, I would be foolish to ignore his usefulness just because of some imaginary feeling I might have had.

    Since I hadn¡¯t given him instructions yet, he was not yet selling insurance for the business that I was starting. This was fine because there were still a few things that I needed to get done before I could give him the green light.

    The first thing that comes to mind is trying to create some sort of an advertising campaign. Instead of him having to painstakingly inform every single person about how the insurance would work, it would be better if I somehow got the word out so that they would come to him. In addition to making his life way easier, it would also allow him to reach people that would not have heard about it otherwise.

    So for this reason, I had to decide on a method of spreading the word by the end of the day. But I wasn¡¯t really in a rush, so I decided to accomplish my daily tasks as usual. Making matches, writing manuscripts¡ª nothing that wasn¡¯t out of the ordinary.

    After I finished with the work, my eyes wandered¡ª looking for something to allow my eyes to refocus after spending a long time with them glued on the manuscript. I once again came across a familiar set of documents¡ª the ones that came from the Zi.

    Before Halel¡¯s house burned down and all the events that followed it, I found the opportunity to break into the Zi¡¯s place of residence and take important looking documents that I thought would prove helpful. After the Zi left the village, I told Qaton that I went back to their base of operations and found them lying around.

    That was actually a lie since I actually acquired them rather hazardously, but it wasn¡¯t something that he needed to know.

    Anyway he told me that it wasn¡¯t in a language that he understood, but rather it was probably written in the tongue that the Zi spoke. Since he couldn¡¯t help, he suggested waiting until I could meet someone who could understand the text. It was a shame since I was certain that whatever was written on those five pieces of parchment could be interesting, but I was forced to search for someone who could understand what was written.

    When I took a glance at the pages, I remembered the fliers and pamphlets of my old world and I wondered whether I could do something like that for my insurance business. I had adequate writing materials and papyrus to make them, so I thought that it might be possible. It seemed like a viable plan, until one thought shattered my hopes in an instant.

    ¡°Can people even read in this village?¡± I wondered.

    After trying to recall any instance of some kind of text or document outside the smuggling ring, I was quickly hit with the realization that this town was probably illiterate. I hadn¡¯t even seen Darat attempt to read in my few months with him, which meant that Qaton was probably the weird one for actually knowing how to read and write. Or perhaps Darat did know and I just hadn¡¯t been with him long enough to see him do it.

    Either way, spreading information via the written word is out. I counted myself lucky that I didn¡¯t do something dumb like invent a printing press as my first business venture. It would be way too expensive and tedious, and no one could read anyway. It''s not like I was about to reproduce a bible anytime soon

    ¡°Speaking of which, is there religion in this world?¡±

    When I thought that, I knew one thing for certain.

    I couldn¡¯t concentrate at all.

    While I was supposed to be thinking of a way to spread the knowledge, I instead wasted my time thinking of things that weren¡¯t really useful. I probably spent all my mental energy working, and I thought a break would do me good.

    I really was curious whether there was religion in this world.

    In my four months, I hadn¡¯t even heard of anything that resembled some sort of belief system. But that was probably due to how sheltered I¡¯ve been, since I hadn¡¯t been going outside and have been instead living a rather solitary life.

    So I decided to ask Qaton about it, since he was probably available at this time. It was around noon after all, which was when he took a break from doing whatever job he did.

    ¡°Are there people who believe things that aren¡¯t really there?¡± I asked,

    I didn¡¯t really have a word for religion ingrained in me, so I tried to explain it in a way that he would get even if it would probably offend a lot of the people in my old world.

    ¡°Religion*, you mean? The systems wherein people believe in some greater entity which could help them?¡±Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡±

    ¡°Well ever since the Yad had some quarrel with the clergy* in this village and eventually kicked them out, people have started hiding their beliefs. But people believe in them, they just don¡¯t do it publicly.¡±

    ¡°Why haven¡¯t I seen Darat, you or anyone related to your group do anything remotely like that then?¡±

    ¡°Well most people just don¡¯t believe in things like that anymore. Maybe a ***** hundred years ago, but times have changed. So only a few people ***** do things like that, unless they¡¯re ******* with the clergy or religious leaders .¡±

    I thought this world would be more religious, considering its level of technology.

    ¡°Is it really like that everywhere?

    ¡°Maybe not much in the kingdoms of Spania, but more in the west in places like the kingdoms of the Kelete and the Chati.¡±

    ¡°How many people believe in religion there?¡± I wondered.

    ¡°Well they believe in ******* different things, but share **** with the religion of the east.¡±he explained, ¡°Though the kingdom of the Kelete has around the same number of clergy that we have people in this kingdom.¡± he said wryly.

    ¡°What are ****?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Well they¡¯re the beings that you mentioned earlier, ¡°gods¡± is the word you¡¯re looking for,¡± he replied.

    ¡°I understand.¡±, I nodded my head, satisfied with his answer.

    As I pondered on what I had just heard, one detail stood out to me. If I heard right, he said that the western kingdom of Kelete had around the same number of clergymen as we had people. That couldn¡¯t be right, unless I had made a grave misunderstanding about a basic fact.

    ¡°How many people even live in this kingdom?¡± I asked Qaton.

    ¡°Maybe around thirty thousand,¡± he stated.

    What the hell?

    I had to preface this by saying that the word that he used for kings was ¡°supet¡±, so I assumed that the population of the two kingdoms were the same. However, I had just come to realize that he used that term for all major political entities, so I truly didn¡¯t know how truly large or small the two kingdoms were until I asked him for myself.

    ¡°How much land does their kingdom occupy?¡±

    ¡°An unfathomable amount of territory. One could walk from one end for months and still not reach the other side. So maybe their size is more than a hundred times the size of our kingdom.¡±

    This really shook my understanding of what I knew because I had thought that we had a decently-sized kingdom but that was clearly not the case. However it could still be true if this new world was incredibly large alongside the kingdom that he had just mentioned.¡±

    ¡°So if this kingdom is so big, and ours is so small. How many kingdoms like ours are in Spania?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t exactly remember the number, but it''s a lot.¡° he answered bluntly.

    ¡°Do you have a map or something like a drawing of the land that I could see?¡±

    ¡°A map that covers more than just a town? That''ll be tricky because aside from local ones like the one the Yad gave you, those don¡¯t really exist for common people like us.¡±

    This was honestly a bit disappointing, but it was not entirely unexpected. Even on earth, maps were rare until more advanced methods of manufacturing them were introduced. So I asked him something that would give me a better understanding of scale that I could actually imagine.

    ¡°Alright, so how large is the entire kingdom in comparison to this village so I can have a mental image of it?¡±

    This question seemed to take him a bit longer to process, as if he had never thought about it before. It took him a good bit of thinking before he was able to give me an answer.

    ¡°Around four hundred times larger?¡± he guessed, with an uncertain tone.

    This was something I could work with since this village was around three kilometers by four kilometers. So if the kingdom was four times that then the whole state would be around four thousand eight-hundred kilometers, or three times the size of the Greater London area. That was quite a large swathe of land, but it was a lot smaller than I thought it was.

    So if the other kingdom he mentioned, Kelete, was a hundred times larger than ours that would total to four hundred eighty thousand square kilometers. So the size of a country like Spain or Thailand, meaning that even though Qaton called them the same name, they were on vastly different levels of power and prestige.

    This was a lot to process for one day, so I ended by thanking him to wrap up the conversation.

    ¡°Thank you for indulging my curiosity.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re welcome, it''s good to see that you aren¡¯t one to just stay mentally idle,¡± he said, smiling.

    As I walked away from Qaton, I felt like I had a throbbing headache because of what he said. Although I was grateful to Qaton for enlightening me on things that were common knowledge to him, I went away from that with more questions than I had answers. I thought that maybe if I thought of something else, I wouldn¡¯t feel as mentally exhausted as I did.

    So in an attempt to get my mind off the mess that was geography, I tried thinking of ways to spread knowledge of insurance like I did earlier.

    So anything writing was off the table due to the town¡¯s illiteracy, but I thought many word of mouth marketing could do the trick.

    How would I even go about that?

    The last time that I had information that I wanted to spread, it was about the Zi¡¯s involvement in the fires that I started. But I relegated that task to the Yad, so I didn¡¯t have to make or spread the message myself.

    This time the message was pretty simple, ¡°Buy the insurance because it will save you if your house gets burned by the matches.¡± However I wasn¡¯t sure how I was meant to spread that message through the right people since I didn¡¯t have that many connections amongst the townsfolk. I also wanted to have Hasbel, the boy I hired, to meet with the potential clients in the main street so I had to make sure that they also knew of his presence there.

    I wondered how I could solve this issue for a while, until I found a solution that had been practically staring me right in the face.

    Shur.

    As a merchant he would probably know which of his contacts could spread the message that I wanted the people to know. While I feared that I might have been relying on him a bit too much for operations that were meant to stay secret, I didn¡¯t have much option in this case. So I just hoped that he would be trustworthy for as long as I dealt with him, and that he would see the benefit in remaining my ally.

    So, I had another meeting with Shur. This one was somewhat similar to the last time I talked with him, so I just confirmed that he had connections with people that could spread the message I wanted and paid him four gold for making sure that people knew about the insurance and where to find Hasbel. I also told him that he could take one gold so that he didn¡¯t get nothing for his troubles.

    I also went to Hasbel¡¯s house after that to make sure that he was aware of what was about to happen, and he was confident in his ability to make sure that people bought his insurance. I also had him write down the name of anyone who actually bought insurance with whatever writing utensils he had, so I would know who was covered. So after I made all the preparations, I had nothing to do but wait and hope that Hasbel did well in his first job as my employee.

 Chapter 21 - Brigade

    Yesterday, I started advertising my insurance business in the hope that it would attract at least some people to buy. I gave my employee, Hasbel, the task of actually receiving the payments and writing down the names of the people who will be covered. I woke up feeling like something was off, but I wasn¡¯t sure what it was yet.

    So as I rubbed the sleep from my eyes, I sauntered up into the warehouse and I noticed something odd. Qaton and Darat were out and about, however still was unusual because they usually started after I woke up.

    I groggily asked Qaton why they were earlier, but he said something which surprised me completely.

    ¡°You overslept. It¡¯s like three hours after noon.¡± he said with an austere tone.

    ¡°Wait. What happened to Hasbel?¡± I wondered internally, panicked.

    I quickly rushed out to meet him in his abode, and the light of the sun confirmed that, yes I had indeed slept late. Hasbel was probably finished with the task I had given him, so I went to his house so I could hear how it went from him.

    I found him counting from a glistering pile of silver coins, seemingly giddy from excitement.

    ¡°Hello.¡±

    ¡°Have you seen how much I got?¡± he said proudly.

    ¡°How many silvers is that?¡±

    ¡°Around one hundred and twelve.¡±

    ¡°Shur wasn¡¯t kidding when he said he had contacts that could spread the news.¡± I remarked.

    ¡°Yup.¡±

    ¡°So you¡¯re getting ten percent of that, correct?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Yep, so I¡¯ll get twelve silvers and you¡¯ll get one hundred exactly.¡±

    ¡°How many people did you manage to get to buy insurance?¡± I asked him.

    ¡°I managed to get fifty-six households to sign up,¡± he said with a smug grin.

    ¡°That¡¯s quite a lot.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, I know.¡± Hasbel replied, his head held up high, clearly pleased with himself.

    The fact that he returned with as much silver as he did indicated to me that he was trustworthy with money, so I wouldn¡¯t have to worry that he would just steal all of it for himself. It also told me that a lot of people in this town were really scared of getting their houses burned down, unsurprisingly. But while he did praiseworthy work, I thought it ill to stroke his ego too much. So I steered the conversation to the next issue at hand.

    ¡°So now I think now, we need to focus on training the men to adequately fight fires.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, so we need fit unemployed men that we can train.¡±

    ¡°Maybe Shur can make an advertisement like what he did with the insurance.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯ll help. It worked pretty well for me.¡± Hasbel remarked, nodding back to his venture earlier in the day.

    ¡°How do you think we should select people?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Well maybe a test of some sort?¡± he suggested.

    ¡°Yes, one that would test whether they are actually fit for the job would be best.¡±

    ¡°Like what?¡±

    ¡°Well they need to be able to carry a lot of pails of water to be able to start a bucket brigade*.¡±

    ¡°Bucket brigade*, what does that mean?¡± he asked, his eyebrows raised.Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

    I had used a term in English from my world since I didn¡¯t see any alternative, so I wasn¡¯t surprised that he wasn¡¯t familiar with it when I explained its definition to him.

    ¡°It¡¯s a method of firefighting that means that people pass buckets filled with water around to extinguish a fire.¡±

    ¡°Like how would that work?¡± he asked, clearly puzzled.

    ¡°People form a chain like from a well to the fire source and they pass buckets filled with water, then the empty buckets are returned to start the cycle over again.¡±

    ¡°I think I get it.¡±

    He still looked as confused as before, but he claimed to understand it. I would have to give him a practical demonstration later on.

    ¡°Remember, you¡¯ll be training them on how to do it so I¡¯ll show you later on.¡±

    ¡°Alright.¡±

    ¡°Anyway, so we need people that can carry a large bucket while running to the burn site, and we need people that won¡¯t stumble or fall because that will take more time.¡±

    ¡°Maybe a test of speed could work?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, I think it¡¯s a good idea to make them run a certain distance and come back all while carrying a heavy albeit empty pail.¡±

    This idea could actually work, since it tested for things that the potential fire-fighters would actually need while allowing us to pick the people that have natural ability for it. Whether they would be able to be trained was an entirely different matter though, but I assumed that even the most dim person could be taught provided enough effort was put into making sure that they understood what to do.

    ¡°So now you have to spread this message, and I¡¯m assuming that you¡¯ll use Shur again?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s exactly right.¡± I confirmed.

    ¡°How much are you planning to pay them?¡±

    ¡°Well maybe a gold a month to start for each of the ten workers, and I can increase it when they actually get put into work.¡±

    ¡°Where will they stay?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m currently having some carpenters construct a facility wherein their equipment for the job can be kept, it will also be somewhere where you can work from.¡±

    ¡°So they¡¯ll just stay there until there¡¯s a fire?¡±

    ¡°Maybe I¡¯ll have some of them patrol at night, but during the day, I¡¯ll make sure that people know where to find them.¡±

    ¡°Alright, so where will I stay to test the candidates?¡±

    ¡°Do you know a good place that doesn¡¯t have many people, so it won¡¯t be too crowded.¡±

    ¡°I know the perfect place for it.¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s have it set for tomorrow noon, since it''s getting a bit late already.¡± I said.

    ¡°Alright sure, tomorrow it is then.¡±

    I began to collect my share of the earnings and go relay this message to Shur, when I realized that this was a good opportunity to build trust with Hasbel.

    ¡°You know what? Why don¡¯t you tell Shur to spread the message, it¡¯s not like I¡¯ll do anything that you can¡¯t.¡±

    He thought about it for a while until he finally said, ¡°Alright.¡±

    ¡°Also before I forget, take forty of the silvers in my portion and leave the rest behind. Use them to pay Shur for his services later on.¡±

    ¡°Alright, thanks.¡±

    As he walked off, I briefly concerned that he would just take the gold that I gave him and run. However when I remembered how much he collected for me while I was pocketing the silver he left, I wasn¡¯t too concerned anymore. But still I did double check with Shur that he actually gave him the gold, and he unsurprisingly repeated what Hasbel had said to him alongside the potential wage that they would receive and the fact that it would require them to stay up late. It was a bit foolish of me to doubt him at this stage, but I couldn¡¯t be too careful.

    The next day¡­

    I woke up on time thankfully and was able to watch Hasbel in front of a crowd of men twenty-five strong. He seemed to have a wax tablet like I did, which would serve useful in marking down the times of the most suitable applicants. They all looked capable so I was somewhat sad to know that only ten of them would make it, but I had a limited budget to spend and I couldn¡¯t pay for all of their salaries.

    I gestured for Hasbel¡¯s attention in a place where the men couldn¡¯t see me, since I didn¡¯t want to be connected to this business. He got my signal and told the men that he needed to step aside for a moment before coming to me.

    When he got to me he looked visibly shocked by the object that I was holding¡ª a large wooden pail. I found it difficult to use words to describe how weirdly large this bucket was, since it bordered on the awkward range of around the size of a small tub or barrel. Truth be told, I wasn¡¯t sure if I could manage dragging it all the way from the warehouse to the location that Hasbel described, but luckily I somehow accomplished it.

    ¡°What is that?¡± he asked, shocked at its sheer scale.

    I shrugged my arms, ¡°A bucket?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s way too big to be one.¡± he said.

    ¡°Well, this is the only one I could find.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sure that whatever this is, isn¡¯t a bucket.¡± he concluded.

    Now that I looked at it, it seemed more like an empty barrel that was broken in half than anything else.

    ¡°Oh.¡± I audibly exclaimed.

    It was just then when I realized that it was a discarded alham barrel that was broken in half. Thankfully all of its contents were emptied and all it had inside it was air. But I couldn¡¯t tell him this though, since I didn¡¯t want to spread secrets about the smuggling ring willy nilly.

    ¡°Just make them pretend it¡¯s two buckets or something.¡±

    ¡°Then you should have brought two buckets.¡±

    ¡°Well this is what we have, so they have to deal with it.¡±

    ¡°Fine, I guess this is what we have to deal with.¡± he said, with a deep sigh.

    I only flashed him an apologetic smile as I watched him lug its heavy mass all the way to the main street where the men were, and I could see their confused faces as they laid their eyes on the object that definitely was a bucket and not all a barrel.

    He said something to them, and one by one, they carried the ¡°bucket¡± while running for about forty meters before returning. I didn¡¯t tell Hasbel an exact distance since I wasn¡¯t really well-versed in this world¡¯s measuring system so I assume he just made up his own. I felt bad when I saw how exhausted the ¡°bucket¡± made the men, but I reassured myself that they were much stronger than me and thus had an easier time with the ¡°bucket¡±.

    After around thirty minutes, the test was finally over and I saw fifteen of the men leave while ten remained. They each said something to Hasbel which he proceeded to write down, then they all left leaving Hasbel alone with his tablet.

    When I was sure that there wasn¡¯t anyone else around to see me with Hasbel, I approached him and asked him what he had on his tablet. He said that he managed to get the names and addresses of the men that had the top ten times. I then told him the location of my own testing facility and told him that we¡¯ll be meeting there tomorrow night, three hours after dusk, so he¡¯ll need to go to their homes and inform them of this fact.

    After I finished talking with Hasbel, I went back to Halel¡¯s old house and was pleasantly surprised to see carpenters already working on it. I greeted them but I was really there to make sure that the potassium nitrate was left undisturbed, and luckily it was.

    I planned to train the firefighters at night so I had to make sure that they wouldn¡¯t suspect that there was anything suspicious going on. I still made potassium nitrate by placing excrement in the ground, but only once a month. In order to not be spotted, I would have to be more careful in the future.

    Speaking of the future, I wondered how their first training meeting would go and whether it would be successful, or would it all fall apart?...

 Chapter 22 - Test

    In a few hours, I was to talk with Hasbel to prepare for his first meeting with the fire-fighters. Although they weren¡¯t exactly trained in any way, not yet at least. So I needed to purchase the materials that he would need to train them by approaching my contact, Shur, to procure them.

    I met with Shur in his shop instead of him coming to me, in a refreshing change of pace.

    ¡°Hello Hamet.¡±

    ¡°Hello.¡± I replied in turn.

    He smiled and said, ¡°To what do I owe the pleasure?¡±

    ¡°I need to prepare some things for the men that I hired.¡± I replied.

    ¡°Oh, what do you need?¡±

    ¡°Some buckets that could hold a decent quantity of water could be good.¡±

    He thought for a moment and then replied, ¡°Alright, so one bucket will cost five bronzes.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s a bit pricey for a bucket.¡± I remarked.

    ¡°Well these are better iron buckets, so it¡¯ll be worth it.¡± he noted.

    Since one meal of average quality cost around a bronze, five of them was a rather hefty amount for each one individual pale. Although I hesitated a bit when I heard of their prices, I agreed to buy Qaton¡¯s buckets since they would probably be more worth my money in the long-term.

    ¡°Fair enough. I¡¯ll buy ten.¡± I said.

    ¡°That¡¯ll be five silver.¡±

    ¡°Alright.¡± I confirmed, as I took out a few silver coins that I had earned from Hasbel¡¯s efforts.

    After he briefly counted the silver coins, he was satisfied with the amount.

    ¡°I¡¯ll drop it off at your place of residence in a few hours, I¡¯ll just have to find them,¡± he said.

    ¡°That¡¯s fine.¡±

    ¡°Good luck with the firefighters.¡± he said.

    ¡°Thanks, but really Hasbel is doing most of the training.¡±

    Shur shifted his eyes at the mention of him, like there was something that came to mind.

    ¡°What is it?¡± I asked.

    ¡°It¡¯s nothing.¡±

    ¡°No, seriously.¡± I continued, ¡° What is it?¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s been acting a bit suspiciously recently, I¡¯ve seen him walking around the streets very late at night,¡± he admitted.

    ¡°He¡¯s at that age, you know how teenagers are.¡± I said.

    ¡°That makes sense¡­ Wait, aren''t you around his age?¡± he asked, ¡±Shouldn¡¯t you be off doing whatever adolescents do?¡±

    He made a good point. After all, I should have been doing more age-appropriate things than trying to start an insurance business. But I didn¡¯t have the time or desire to do anything so frivolous.

    ¡°I¡¯m an outlier, perhaps.¡± I finally replied after a brief pause.

    ¡°Right¡­ well anyway, don¡¯t you get too complacent around anyone, even me.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll keep that in mind, see you.¡±

    He then walked towards the door and stood in front of me, making his tall stature clearly evident.Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.

    ¡°See you.¡± he finally said, as he opened the door for me.

    As I walked back to the compound, I wondered whether Shur¡¯s suspicion of Hasbel had any truth to it. Well, so far nothing bad has happened and he seems to be trustworthy. So I¡¯ll assume he¡¯s not working for the Yad or something until he proves himself guilty. He¡¯s done nothing so far, so it''s lunacy to think that his recent behavior is anything to accuse him of.

    Two hours later¡­

    Around thirty minutes ago, Shur came here to drop off the ten buckets that he promised. They looked well-constructed and were vastly more well proportioned than the ¡°bucket¡± that I lent Hasbel last time. Hauling it there and back was quite a hassle, so I was relieved to have something that I could carry with the actual handles.

    I walked all the way to Hasbel¡¯s abode once again, since I didn¡¯t have any real way to contact him aside from just going all the way there. Unlike all the other times I was there, this time I caught a glimpse of his father. He was a rather dignified looking man who seemed busy with conversation with other men who appeared to be merchants. I didn¡¯t want to disturb his work, so I ignored him and went on to meet with Hasbel.

    When I saw him for the first time since the test, he looked strangely relieved and his expression brightened.

    ¡°What¡¯s with that face?¡± I asked.

    ¡°I was hoping that you wouldn¡¯t bring that¡­ thing¡­. from last time and I¡¯m glad that didn¡¯t happen.¡±

    ¡°Oh that bucket, thankfully I didn¡¯t bring it this time.¡± I said, ¡°Do you want me to bring it next time?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t even think about it.¡± he said sternly.

    ¡°Alright, alright. I brought these new smaller buckets, take a look.¡±

    ¡°They seem nice, where¡¯d you get them?¡±

    ¡°I bought them from Shur.¡±

    ¡°That makes sense.¡±

    ¡°Anyway, so now I¡¯ll try to explain to you how a bucket brigade works.¡±

    ¡°Okay¡­?¡±

    I placed down the ten buckets in an orderly file, and began to make him pay attention to how I was going to switch them around.

    ¡°Alright so pretend that the buckets are being filled on this end, and being used on the other. So the men will shuffle the buckets like this so that the filled ones get to the fire and the unfilled ones can get filled.¡±

    While explaining, I shuffled the buckets around so that each one would take the place of the next and next and so on.

    ¡°I think I get it.¡± he said after observing me for a while.

    ¡°Show me.¡±

    I stepped aside to allow him to do it for himself, and he seemed to get the idea.

    ¡°I¡¯m satisfied, so I can start briefing you on the procedures that I want them to learn.¡±

    ¡°Couldn¡¯t you just write it down or something?¡±

    ¡°I think it''s easier if I just use verbal instructions.¡±

    ¡°Alright then, hit me.¡±

    ¡°So you know how I¡¯ll have them work both night and day shifts, right?¡±

    ¡°Right.¡±

    ¡°During the day, I¡¯ll just have them prepare for it if they''re even alarmed by some citizen. But during the night, I want five men patrolling the streets for any fire and if there is one that sees the fire will alert the rest of the men.¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t it better to have someone looking for fires during the day too?¡±

    ¡°Sure, maybe one of the men will patrol sparsely populated areas during the day. The point is that for each shift, maybe five men will be on duty and if it requires all ten men then they can send a person to call them to join in case of emergency.¡±

    ¡°I think I understand,¡± he said after a brief pause.

    ¡°Can you repeat it to me then?¡± I asked.

    After I was satisfied with his summary, I gave him instructions on how to facilitate the session later in the day and I left him with the ten iron buckets that I had brought.

    ¡°Make sure that they understand what to do, and can repeat it back to you.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡± he nodded.

    ¡°I¡¯ll discuss their progress with you after the meeting is over, so I¡¯ll meet you here again.¡± I said.

    After we finished we said our goodbyes and I went to the location that I told him the meeting was in, Piyan¡¯s old house. It was currently undergoing construction ever since the Zi burned it to a crisp, but I had started efforts to reconstruct it and make a facility where the firefighters could work in. The carpenters in charge of rebuilding didn¡¯t really work at night, so the Hasbel could train the men in the yard of the property.

    The meeting was set to three hours after dusk so it was a bit difficult to see if anyone had arrived there or not. But sure enough, I managed to spot a gathering of three men who had come to the premises early. I waited until one by one, they finally reached their maximum number of ten men with Hasbel coming just slightly before they were complete.

    As far as I could tell in the hazy darkness, he started by describing how the procedure would work in terms of their schedules. I wasn¡¯t too specific so I expected him to take the initiative to figure the finer details out for himself, and since he didn¡¯t come to me for help I assumed that he figured it out.

    After they hashed out their plan for how they would act, Hasbel started training them on how the bucket brigade would work. I felt that he could take it from here, so I began to head back to head back to the compound to do miscellaneous tasks. I had enough confidence in Hasbel that I didn¡¯t really think that I needed to direct his actions too much.

    The next morning¡­

    After I woke up and made sure that there was nothing vital left to be done, I tidied up and set off for Hasbel¡¯s house. I was curious as to the outcome of last night¡¯s meeting with the men and whether or not he was successful.

    I found him deep in thought in the room where we usually met, so I waved my hand in front of his face to get him back to his senses. When he noticed that I was there, he flashed what looked like a guilty smile that indicated to me that something went wrong.

    ¡°How did last night go?¡±

    ¡°It went fine,¡± he said, looking away.

    ¡°Are you sure?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure, yeah.¡± He repeated.

    I didn¡¯t really believe that everything went perfectly, but I had a feeling that Hasbel was less than willing to share what happened.

    ¡°Maybe we should have some sort of a test to gauge their understanding?¡± I suggested.

    His eyes widened at the idea, ¡°Maybe¡­ but how?¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s pretend that your house is burning and then we can observe what they¡¯ll do.¡±

    ¡°What do you mean?¡±

    ¡°You stand in your house, and then time how long it would take for them to notice you from the time you stand there. That way, we would know how long it would take to bring all five members of the day shift with the ten buckets that they need.¡± I explained.

    ¡°I can do that.¡±

    ¡°Did you assign them roles like who would scout?¡±

    ¡°I did, yeah.¡± he said confidently.

    At least this he seemed to have actually done properly, but I still wasn¡¯t convinced that there wasn¡¯t a flaw in other areas.

    Perhaps something had gone wrong when he tried organizing the men?

    ¡°Alright, so maybe we''ll do that tomorrow and today you¡¯ll brief them on the test later on.¡±

    ¡°Sounds good,¡± he said.

    As I walked away from Hasbel¡¯s abode I felt like something was off about how Hasbel talked about the training last night, so I thought that this test would show if they actually learned something. I hoped that it would go as well as I hoped, but a part of me didn¡¯t think that things would go so smoothly.

    I would have to wait and see what tomorrow would hold¡­

 Chapter 23 - Setback

    I approached Hasbel, my blood boilings as I planned to get to the bottom of the mess that I had just witnessed. But to fully understand the cause of my frustration, I need but explain what happened that irked me so.

    The previous night, according to my employee Hasbel, the meeting with the firefighters in training was successful in training them properly. I did have some doubts as to the veracity of these claims, so I decided to devise a test of sorts to see whether they would be effective or not. The test would include them locating Hasbel which would be a stand in for a burning building that they would have to rescue. They would also have to muster all five men with their ten buckets and then create a bucket brigade that would come from a nearby well to Hasbel.

    Since the men were divided into two shifts, the test would be done twice to make sure that they are all tested. The thing that would make this difficult was that they wouldn¡¯t know when or where Hasbel would be, so they have to patrol effectively to make sure that their response is quick.

    I would be watching incognito to see how well they were trained, and observe if anything needs to be improved. After going over the details with Hasbel privately, he finally understood how to proctor the test and so I watched as he went over what the men needed to know. He placed ten buckets to be used in front of the property where they were trained, so they could retrieve it when it was necessary.

    After he placed the buckets, he went to me and hid from their sight. He waited for about an hour until he decided to go to his house. After he disappeared, I followed him and watched the street around him to watch the men find him.

    However, there was one problem.

    I had been watching him for over an hour, yet I hadn¡¯t seen any sight of the men. Confused, I navigated my way through Murgi¡¯s simple roads to attempt to find them. After a while, I eventually caught a glimpse of what looked like one of the candidates. But when I followed him, I found the rest of the men distracted in jovial conversation.

    Needless to say, I was disappointed.

    I assumed that Hasbel trained them on what to do, but it doesn¡¯t seem like they were especially disciplined or really cared about their task. Though after a while, they seemed to remember that they had a test to complete and started wandering the village. They leisurely paced with no hint of being any sort of perceptive.

    By sheer luck, they eventually find Hasbel and run towards him. All the while clumsily dropping the buckets, then struggling to pick them up and run again.

    When they finally managed to all get to Hasbel, he asked something of them then they proceeded to prepare to do what seemed to be the bucket brigade procedure. They found the nearest well, then made a line going towards their trainer.

    They got their buckets then gave it all to the man nearest to the well, then he began filling the buckets with water then passing it. The problem there was that when they passed the buckets around, they kept on spilling the contents. So when it finally reached the end of the line, it barely had any of it left.

    After a while, Hasbel said something to them then they left. The test had obviously concluded with sub-par results. It happened again, and the second batch of men performed just as badly as the first. So when they were all gone, I went to Hasbel wanting to know what just happened.

    "Hasbel¡­ What was that?" I asked, my eyebrows knitting together in frustration.

    ¡°They¡¯re probably not motivated enough. You know¡­ since they haven¡¯t been paid yet?¡± he suggested.

    That was actually quite logical, maybe a little push would make them more motivated.

    ¡°That might actually be it.¡± I said, ¡°Maybe we can pay them a bonus, to show that we actually intend to pay them.¡±If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

    ¡°How much?¡±

    ¡°Maybe two silvers?¡± I suggested.

    He put a finger to his chin in thought and after a while said, ¡°That¡¯ll work.¡±

    ¡°Are you sure that there are any other reasons why the training wasn¡¯t effective?¡± I asked.

    ¡°They don¡¯t take me seriously, so they don¡¯t care what I say.¡±

    As he said this, I realized how strange it was for a boy of his age to be in charge of a troupe of men many years his senior. No wonder they didn¡¯t listen, he was probably the same age as one of their children. I needed to give them a reason for them to listen and follow what he had to say.

    ¡°Give the two silvers only to people who actually listen to do the procedures right.¡± I said.

    ¡°I can do that,¡± he nodded.

    It seemed like the number that I had just made up was adequate enough for Hasbel, but I didn¡¯t know exactly what the right amount was so I just trusted his burgher upbringing.

    ¡°We have around two months until the carpenters are done, make sure that they are ready for action before then.¡± I said, ¡°But in the meantime, sell some insurance so that we have adequate funding.¡±

    I wasn¡¯t sure what date exactly the carpenters would finish, but I knew that it would take around two months according to their head. So, I needed to use that time to make sure that the firefighters are leagues ahead of their earlier performance when it comes time to actually start the business.

    ¡°Alright.¡± I said, ¡°But don¡¯t rush, we have a bit of time.¡±

    He met with them again, under the cover at night in the yard outside Halel¡¯s house as usual. I watched as he said something to them and showed them the glistering silver coins that he held in his hands.

    I gave him around twenty silver to use as a starting bonus, two silvers for every man which would hopefully motivate the men into taking the training seriously. I came over to watch for a bit, just to make sure that the training went smoothly. And so far, it went better than I assumed it would. Perhaps it was the promise of coin, or Hasbel¡¯s renewed determination which changed things but either way, it was probably better than last time.

    As I watched him, I wondered if I had made a mistake hiring him. He didn¡¯t seem to be incompetent, but it was very clear that he failed to teach them properly last time. Maybe it really wasn¡¯t his fault as he claimed, or some other reason that I couldn¡¯t think of. It wasn¡¯t any specific behavior he showed, but my gut feeling told me that something was suspect. There wasn¡¯t any logical reason for this suspicion, but I felt like I needed to make sure that he was telling the truth. So, I waited until the training was over until I went behind Hasbel¡¯s back to find out the truth.

    Combined with what Shur talked about last time, I had a feeling that something was off.Thus, I had to make sure that Hasbel didn¡¯t spot me, lest he catch on to the fact that I had my suspicions on him. After I was sure that the coast was clear, I approached a firefighter in training who seemed like he would be receptive to my offer, and then I asked him a few questions.

    ¡°What¡¯s your name?¡± I asked the man.

    ¡°Mim.¡± he replied, his eyes narrowed as he responded.

    A flicker of recognition crossed his face, as if he knew me from somewhere. This was odd, but I ignored it to get straight to the point.

    ¡°Can I talk to you about something?¡±

    ¡°Alright, **** ** you ****?¡±

    I had completely forgotten how it was like to not understand someone after speaking so much with Hasbel, perhaps it was because he too was a foreigner like me. So we both were able to understand each other more easily. But still, I needed to get used to not understanding people like Mim to learning more about the language.

    ¡°I work with the owner. I want to know what¡¯s happening in the group, and how Hasbel is teaching you.¡±

    ¡°Sure **** can be ********.¡±

    I took his words as a sign of affirmation then took out five glistening silvers, then placed them in his hand.

    ¡°Tell me.¡± I urged.

    ¡°Hasbel told us to **** a ******* for a boy with your **********, so **** of the first meeting was ***** trying to ***** us how we would ****** to him.¡±

    ¡°I see.¡± I said, ¡°Thanks for the information.¡±

    While his somewhat lower-class style of speech caused me to not understand a few words, I got the general gist of his message from the terms that I did know. From what I had gathered, Hasbel was trying to use the fire-fighting force to keep tabs on me. His reason for doing so was still unknown, but it verified Shur¡¯s claim that something odd was afoot.

    After he said his piece, I dismissed him with the promise that I¡¯d meet him again next week.

    As I watched him disappear into the night¡¯s dark cloak, I reflected on what he had just told me. If it was true, then I definitely couldn¡¯t completely trust Hasbel as much as I did Shur, or Qaton. If I was right, the main reason why the men had performed poorly on the test wasn¡¯t because of his age or a lack of motivation but because of putting more time on tasks that they shouldn¡¯t be doing. He wasn¡¯t bad at his job after all, but what I discovered instead was a lot more concerning to me. I had a lot of trust in him to be honest with me, but from then on, I would need to keep an eye on him to find out what he¡¯s planning.

    There was always the chance that the man was mistaken or lying, however he didn¡¯t have much incentive to make up falsehoods. Even if he did, what he said seemed way too oddly specific to not have at least a grain of truth to it. This convinced me that Hasbel was a sort of loose cannon that needed to be watched with a keen gaze.

    Yet, I had no intention of throwing him away just yet.

    As the old saying goes¡­ keep your friends close, and your enemies closer.

    However, I still needed Hasbel to train the men, so I couldn¡¯t just let him go. Especially since he had the skills for the job that I wasn¡¯t certain that most people had. I wasn¡¯t even sure if he was an enemy yet, since there was always the possibility that he was just curious about me.  So I needed to be consistent in making sure that the men were trained, and that he didn''t do any more bizarre things. I couldn¡¯t do everything in just a day after all. I needed the patience to be certain that everything was done properly.

 Chapter 25 - Bargaining

    ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure that we won¡¯t ever get as much luck as we did a few weeks ago.¡± Hasbel said with reluctant certainty.

    ¡°Why is that?¡± I asked him.

    ¡°It just seems like all of a sudden, people just realized that our insurance wasn¡¯t very trustworthy yet.¡± he shrugged.

    It has been two weeks since I started trying to sell insurance in the town of Murgi alongside the teenage Hasbel, who I hired for his skills as the son of a merchant. While we did find some success at first, it petered out to merely a fraction of what it once was.

    ¡°Why could that be?¡± I enquired.

    ¡°Well.. I¡¯ve heard people saying that they should wait until it''s actually an established business and that they¡¯ll just be scammed.¡± he said after a moment of idle thought.

    While I had a hunch as to the reason for the lack of demand, it still confused me. Why had the first attempts worked so well, while the succeeding ones brought significantly grimmer results. Perhaps there was some other reason for it, but either way I couldn¡¯t afford to wait that long mainly because of the looming specter of the village¡¯s distrust towards my match-making business. If I wanted to continue with my other venture I needed to ensure that I placated the people as soon as possible, otherwise it was all too obvious what would happen next if they weren¡¯t.

    ¡°How long will it take to change this perception?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Around about, two to three months?¡± he said, uncertain.

    ¡°That¡¯s a bit too long for my liking.¡± I remarked. ¡°We still have to pay the men we¡¯re training as well as for the equipment necessary for them.¡±

    ¡°Well¡­ I think you have to find some other source of income or else you¡¯ll have to slow down with the insurance company, unfortunately.¡± he said solemnly.

    With that final statement, he slowly sauntered off from the lot wherein I planned to turn into the base of operations for the insurance company.

    I really didn¡¯t want to use the money that I earned from the match-making business to fund the insurance venture anymore than I already did, so I needed to diagnose the problem and solve it in order to get anywhere with selling insurance.

    As Hasbel said, the issue was mainly one of legitimacy. In my old world, most businesses¡¯ legitimacy either came from the efficacy of their product or how they spread their reliability amongst the populace. My matchmaking business wasn¡¯t too hard to prove to be legitimate since it was obvious to anyone with a matchstick and a pair of working eyes. However, since I purposely didn¡¯t want to expose myself as the head of the insurance company, I wasn¡¯t really able to exude trust in the fact that I would reimburse anyone.

    Despite this, Hasbel still somehow managed to sell a decent amount of insurance in his first attempt which really just spoke a lot about his charisma and convincingness in selling his product. In addition to that I know that he wasn¡¯t the one doing anything out of the ordinary because my informant Mim, who I tasked with telling me about the going-ons in the group of future firefighters, hasn¡¯t seen any unusual behaviour coming from Hasbel which made me suspect that it might have been an external factor.

    However while I could¡¯ve gone making baseless suspicions for my lack of success all day, that still wouldn¡¯t fix the problem. To remedy this issue, I would need to find someone or something to tie my business to in order to make sure that people had confidence in it. Presumably I wanted someone whom all the people know so anyone like Shur or people from the smuggling guild are out. Even if Shur had the utmost trust of everyone he knew, he was one to supply goods than sell them himself so I wouldn¡¯t have expected him to be known by too many people. Piyan, my employee who worked to sell matches, was also out since I didn¡¯t want to connect my insurance business with my match-making one since I was sure that it wouldn¡¯t end well.

    I needed someone whose word held weight in this town, amenable to tying my product to their name, and who I could trust to keep their word. I pondered the options I had for a moment until coming to a grim realization, that I had only one viable option in this regard.

    The Yad.

    While I would prefer not to work with him solely due to the malicious feeling that I got from him, I couldn¡¯t lie to myself that he wasn¡¯t a good option to work with. As a matter of fact, he was the only person that I could use to make sure the insurance business went well. Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

    Despite my intuition screaming otherwise, I needed to take this course of action in order to make sure that I kept what I had. Perhaps if I worked with him, he could dispel the rumours of the business¡¯ untrustworthy nature that hindered it so. But if I wanted to use his good name for my own purposes, I needed something to give in exchange. Nothing came to mind yet, so I decided to figure it out with my meeting with the Yad proper.

    I made sure that everything was in order before I left to meet the Yad, noticing that the compound was more busy than usual. However, I ignored this oddity and  strolled up to the bureaucratic center of the town as I did many times in the past, however what made this time different was that I was alone. In previous meetings, I needed to acquire the help of Qaton to make sure that my will was conveyed. However, now that I had a deeper grasp of the language, I could understand most of what was being said and make sure that the Yad knew exactly what I meant.

    As I walked in, I noticed a crowd of normal citizens patiently waiting along a bench. This was probably due to the fact that contrary to when I met with the Yad at odd hours of the day, this was the regular time for someone to meet with the Yad to discuss pertinent issues. Acknowledging the queue, I waited for what seemed like thirty to forty minutes before finally getting an audience with the Yad.

    The Yad wasn¡¯t any different than how he¡¯d usually be, a short and stubby middle-aged man draped in luxurious clothing. Preferring to keep things direct, we exchanged greetings then wanting to get straight into business I wanted to let him in on something that I didn¡¯t want to get out to the public.

    ¡°I¡¯ve started a venture, one that I would prefer to keep a secret. Could you do that?¡± I asked in a hushed town so as not to be overheard by any passing bureaucrat.

    ¡°What kind of business?¡± he asked, his eyes narrowing.

    ¡°I need your word first that this remains among us.¡±

    He looked at me as if he was trying to decide whether it would be more beneficial to agree or disagree, but ultimately he seemed to think that playing along would work out best for him.

    ¡°You have my word.¡± he said firmly.

    ¡°I¡¯ve started a sort of insurance business.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s that?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s essentially a guarantee that I¡¯ll recompense people for any fire in exchange for a monthly fee.¡± I explained.

    ¡°Don¡¯t you own that matchmaking business?¡±

    ¡°I do.¡±

    He pressed further, ¡°Isn¡¯t that a conflict of interest?¡±

    ¡°It is.¡± I admitted.

    A wave of understanding hit him as I revealed my reason for requiring his secrecy, he flashed a sly smile. One which showed that he understood how much I needed what I told him to stay hidden from the public eye.

    ¡°That¡¯s ********** that you¡¯d do good to hide. No wonder you wanted my silence.¡± the Yad said.

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± I nodded.

    ¡°What gave you the idea to start ********* like that?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a response to what you told me a few weeks ago, something about the town not appreciating that my matches were used to burn down some houses.¡±

    ¡°I remember that, so you¡¯ve been ****** on this ever since then?¡±

    ¡°I have.¡± I said proudly.

    ¡°Makes sense.¡± he nodded. ¡°So what ****** you here other than to just catch up?¡±

    I stared into his eyes and plainly said ¡°I need your legitimacy.¡±

    He turned his head and asked ¡°Why would you need something like that?¡±

    ¡°I think it would be wise to have you connected with the business to show that it has your trust.¡± I responded.

    ¡°That ******* would be a good idea¡­ for you.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m guessing you want something in return?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re right. I¡¯m not exactly oblivious to what happens in my ****, so I already knew about the insurance ****** and had a ***** it was you. I also heard about some men you had recently hired to fight the fires of your ******. It would be a nice gesture if you were to use this ***** to take care of all of the fires instead of just the ones of your **********.¡± he said, with a coy grin.

    As he revealed all he knew, I tried my best to give off the impression that I was unfazed despite how internally shocked I was that he knew all of that.

    I knew that this wasn¡¯t a very good development. In fact, this was very, very bad.  I had underestimated how much the Yad knew about what was going on in his town, so I thought that I could take the initiative in making a deal with the Yad. However it seemed like he was already prepared for this even before I even thought about speaking with him, which told me that I would need to be more cautious with him going forward.

    ¡°So, I would be doing this for free?¡±

    ¡°Of course not, I would put my **** in your little ******** to help **** support for it. That would do wonders for you, would it not?¡± he said with confidence and a hint of condescension.

    While I didn¡¯t like how the deal was being presented, I didn¡¯t think it was all too bad. That just went to show how valuable the Yad''s support was on this. However, I needed some time to think it over to make sure that it was worth it.

    ¡°I¡¯ll think about it.¡± I responded.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think we have to prolong this, so I would prefer if we did this here and now.¡±

    ¡°Sorry, but I don¡¯t agree.¡± I protested.

    He seemed unexpectedly annoyed by my resistance, until something came to mind which brought back his confident demeanor.

    ¡°This may be unrelated but a source of mine told me about a strange observation that they noticed.¡±

    ¡°How is this related?¡± I asked, irritated.

    ¡°Let me finish. They found the carpenters guild ************ in the plot of **** that used to be Halel¡¯s, which is strange since that land should **** under my jurisdiction since he lacked any ******** to ******** it to.¡±

    ¡°That is definitely strange.¡± I responded nonchalantly, unwilling to give him the satisfaction of an emotional response.

    Despite the air of confidence that I tried to project externally, I was once again baffled by how much the Yad knew. I had yet another problem that I needed to deal with and once again, the Yad had the upper hand. To put it rather crudely, the Yad had me by the balls.

    ¡°I¡¯ll let it slide if we have our agreement, and no one will ever take issue with it again. So, deal?¡± he said as he offered his hand.

    Seeing that I had no choice, and that agreeing was the best way out of this, I shook his hand despite how much I was annoyed by how much dirt the Yad had on me and how well he used it to get his way.

    ¡°Fine.¡± I said, annoyed by the fact that I had no choice but to agree.

    And with that we concluded our brief meeting, then went our separate ways. I got what I wanted, the Yad¡¯s support, but felt like I lost. I would have to make sure that next time didn¡¯t turn out the same way it did today, and that I would be more prepared next time.

    After a moderately lengthy trek, I finally reached the compound to find the whole gang of smugglers preparing for something. Everything was being loaded into nondescript wooden crates to prepare for a journey of some sort.

    I found Qaton and Darat also participating in this strange behavior and, puzzled, I wanted to know what was going on.

    ¡°What is the group preparing for?¡± I asked Qaton.

    ¡°We finally found the source of the disturbances, we¡¯ll be gone for a while.¡± he responded.

    This wasn¡¯t a great time for this to happen, since I had Hasbel, the Yad and the insurance business to deal with without the support that I would normally have. However, I knew that I would persevere and make do¡­ hopefully.